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What England grew, 1900–2021

What England grew, 1900–2021

Area under each crop in England in hectares, every ten years from 1900 and in 2021 — the Defra June Survey key results. A dash means the crop was not reported that year.

35 crops and land uses

Cereals

Crop	1900	1910	1920	1930	1940	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	2021
Wheat	706,012	694,710	738,205	536,510	673,984	950,705	803,990	961,639	1,405,723	1,885,300	1,956,759	1,791,900	1,654,867
Barley	665,731	586,601	622,407	396,084	479,253	643,839	1,222,236	1,863,970	1,770,289	1,101,841	752,168	586,026	816,149
Oats	752,939	751,813	818,057	649,436	732,066	637,553	390,238	212,057	98,434	69,769	80,047	94,737	158,983
Rye	18,657	16,970	38,473	17,702	7,880	29,854	6,912	4,521	6,057	8,179	7,127	5,814	37,091
Mixed grain	—	—	49,195	43,987	87,547	292,553	65,042	54,562	9,955	3,001	1,646	3,414	9,921
Triticale	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	7,635	13,509	14,907	14,738
All cereals	2,143,340	2,050,095	2,266,336	1,643,720	1,980,729	2,554,505	2,488,419	3,096,749	3,290,458	3,075,725	2,811,255	2,496,798	2,691,749

Oilseeds and fibre

Crop	1900	1910	1920	1930	1940	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	2021
Oilseed rape	—	28,869	35,032	—	20,856	30,312	17,527	13,333	91,594	342,758	294,102	599,675	268,410
Linseed	—	—	—	1,570	—	15,347	—	—	—	33,571	68,300	43,733	40,713
Flax	185	—	—	1,446	10,911	6,815	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Borage	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	784	3,850
All oilseeds	—	—	—	—	—	52,473	—	—	—	376,329	362,402	644,192	312,973

Roots, pulses and fodder

Crop	1900	1910	1920	1930	1940	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	2021
Potatoes	160,638	152,503	209,200	163,529	208,447	329,540	228,918	200,019	148,151	134,644	126,755	99,939	102,723
Sugar beet	—	—	—	140,170	130,158	168,444	169,699	182,100	211,603	194,245	172,809	118,493	95,249
Field beans	100,699	104,597	103,225	70,797	34,349	43,100	32,645	76,297	47,941	138,747	122,079	161,124	184,810
Dry peas	62,442	67,645	66,732	54,110	15,445	14,686	4,647	—	—	71,897	81,750	39,875	60,390
Maize (fodder, grain and anaerobic digestion)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1,434	20,790	33,281	97,634	145,827	209,160
Turnips and swedes	469,604	430,758	378,707	254,805	164,563	111,475	76,326	38,272	32,612	16,692	7,368	—	—
Mangolds and fodder beet	162,652	173,799	151,877	112,396	85,677	101,794	48,959	9,296	5,799	10,650	6,889	—	—
Cabbage, kale, savoys and kohl rabi (fodder)	71,978	22,499	29,137	49,577	44,197	86,619	7,314	2,959	37,087	13,296	6,308	—	—
Vetches and tares	67,470	38,725	48,771	30,227	12,588	14,190	7,673	—	—	—	—	—	—
Lucerne	—	23,527	17,915	16,031	12,561	29,375	32,641	13,225	—	—	—	—	—
Other arable crops for stockfeeding	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	43,844,000	28,521,000	36,783	58,712
Hops	20,764	13,309	8,499	8,093	7,524	8,961	8,210	7,080	5,681	3,869	2,336	—	—
All other arable crops	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5,623	23,264	29,720	29,841

Fruit, vegetables and glasshouse

Crop	1900	1910	1920	1930	1940	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	2021
Vegetables grown in the open	—	—	—	—	101,149	195,363	157,826	195,771	177,751	128,841	105,639	103,046	88,504
Orchards	—	—	—	97,847	102,166	108,558	93,650	61,919	42,574	32,494	25,810	21,940	20,959
Small fruit	27,013	30,771	23,506	26,480	10,077	15,356	12,668	12,652	14,278	11,599	7,308	8,249	9,641
Hardy nursery stock, bulbs and flowers	—	—	—	—	6,921	8,899	12,622	13,914	11,332	12,436	12,774	10,366	10,595
Crops under glass	—	—	—	—	1,306	1,881	1,770	1,778	2,065	2,152	2,024	1,490	1,154

Grassland and rough grazing

Crop	1900	1910	1920	1930	1940	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	2021
Permanent grass (over 5 years old)	5,419,618	5,634,693	5,126,307	5,452,771	5,075,959	3,647,762	3,657,841	3,261,469	3,154,927	3,106,890	2,876,619	3,288,366	3,119,055
All rough grazing	—	—	1,105,741	1,446,972	1,506,521	1,469,902	1,338,363	1,260,928	1,178,321	1,175,429	1,055,055	920,937	837,551
Sole-rights rough grazing	—	—	—	—	1,096,486	1,041,077	913,323	832,853	750,432	747,540	627,166	493,048	438,604
Common rough grazing	—	—	—	—	410,035	428,824	425,040	428,075	427,889	427,889	427,889	427,889	398,947
Uncropped arable land	118,846	138,910	225,034	117,552	120,331	102,421	72,697	91,746	49,154	106,436	505,366	149,316	230,909

Source: Defra, June Survey of Agriculture — England key results at ten-yearly intervals, 1900–2021 (Open Government Licence v3).