Finnish farmers mostly report poor grain harvest this year, but one bright spot has been pea production. This year marks the largest pea harvest of the century, the Natural Resources Center (Luke) said on Tuesday.
The use of peas and field beans as a domestic source of protein for domestic animals and directly as food is increasing in Finland due to products such as pulled oats.
This year’s oat harvest was also about 10 percent higher than average. However, the other major cereals – barley, wheat and rye – had weak harvests this year.
Still, the total exceeds the average annual domestic consumption, says senior statistician Luke Anneli Partala.
“A grain harvest of almost 3.3 million tonnes is enough to cover about 2.8 million tonnes of annual domestic consumption. While this amount is sufficient, it does not fully meet the requirements of our consumption. In addition, a third of the oat harvest, about 300 million kilos, has largely ended up on European tables, ”he said on Tuesday.
Rye sprayers, organic oats on the rise
About 66 million kilos of rye were imported from the fields, which corresponds to about eight months of domestic demand. Much goes to rye bread – voted Finland’s national food in 2017.
Fortunately, some of the rye will remain in silos from the buffer crop in 2019, which will reduce the need for imports.
Organic farming continues to grow in Finland, exceeding 10 percent of the total field area a few years ago.
Organic oats in particular are on the rise, and this year the harvest increased by five per cent from 2019. At around 80,000 tonnes, it accounts for 7 per cent of the total oat harvest and has become a major export in recent years.
Luke collects harvest data from about 6,200 farms, 700 of which are organic.
Quelle: Die nordische Seite
