In 2022, the gross yield of seed onions was 17.2 percent lower than in the previous year.
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Gross yields of wheat and barley were up, by 22.7 and by 44.1 percent respectively. Gross yields of sugar beet and ware potatoes increased as well.
This is evident from the definitive crop estimates conducted by Statistics Netherlands (CBS).
According to the definitive crop estimates, in 2022 the gross yield of seed onions stood at 1.2 million tonnes, a 17.2-contraction on the previous year and the lowest yield since 2018.
Altogether 1 million tonnes of yellow and 0.2 million tonnes of red onions were harvested. In addition, 268 thousand tonnes of plant onions were harvested.
In 2022, the gross ware potato yield stood at 3.6 million tonnes, representing an increase of 8.8 percent on the previous year. 7.3 million tonnes of sugar beet were harvested, an increase of almost 11 percent.
The gross wheat yield was almost one quarter higher than in 2021. The gross barley yield rose by 44.1 percent. The reason is that aside from the increase in cultivation area, the yield per hectare also increased.
Relative to 2021, the wheat cultivation area increased by 4.2 percent to 124 thousand ha. The barley cultivation area also increased, by 22.6 percent to 36.9 thousand ha.
The growth in cultivation area was mainly related to the sowing of summer wheat and summer barley. After an increase over the previous year, the seed onion cultivation area declined by 9 percent to 27.4 thousand ha.
The ware potato area grew again in 2022: by 7.3 percent to 76.6 thousand ha. This came after a decline over the two previous consecutive years. The sugar beet area rose slightly, by 1.3 percent.
The yields per hectare of wheat and barley rose substantially year on year in 2022. The wheat yield amounted to 9.6 tonnes per hectare (+17.3 percent). Of barley, 7.9 tonnes were harvested from one hectare last year; 17.1 percent more than a year earlier.
The yields per hectare of seed onions declined by 9.3 percent to 44.5 tonnes per ha. This is the lowest yield since 2018. The yield per hectare of sugar beet stood at 88.8 tonnes on average. This is 9.4 percent more than in the previous year. At 47.1 tonnes, the hectare yield of ware potatoes was up slightly on 2021. ■