The arable area has increased this year by 14,400 hectares to 549,000 hectares. The area of wheat increased the most, but more seed onions and legumes were also grown.
Potatoes, sugar beets and silage maize will be grown less in 2023. Despite the increase this year, the total area of arable crops has decreased by more than 13 percent compared to 2000. This is evident from the provisional results of the Agricultural Census 2023 of Statistics Netherlands.
Wheat is grown on 130,000 hectares this year, almost five percent more than in the previous year. The area of winter wheat increased by 12.3 percent compared to 2022, to more than 121,000 hectares. The acreage of spring wheat fell by 45 percent to almost 9,000 hectares. Spring wheat fluctuates from year to year: it was highest in 2011, when about a quarter of the wheat area was made up of this crop, compared to 7 percent in 2023.
Less barley
The area under barley also shrank and was almost 36,000 hectares. Spring barley, in particular, decreased by 21 percent (to 20,600 hectares). As with wheat, the area sown in winter (winter barley) also increased with barley, by 42 percent to 15,000 hectares.
Seed onions are grown on more than 29,000 hectares, slightly more than last year. The surface area for consumption potatoes also decreased slightly to 75,000 hectares. Seed and starch potatoes also saw a small decline. Protein-rich legumes such as field beans are on the rise, but the number of hectares on which these varieties are grown is still modest. This also applies to flax and hemp, of which there are now 4,300 hectares.