Small meadow crops in Northern Norway

A late spring, winterkill and drought produced smaller hay and green forage plant yields in Northern Norway. Potato crops were, however, good throughout the entire country. Other crops show relatively small deviations from the average crops for 1990-96.

Total meadow crop yield is calculated at 2.6 million tonnes of dry hay, more than in 1996. The average for all meadow crops was calculated at 545 kilos of dry hay per decare in 1997, against 532 kilos the year before.

Eastern Norway had a clear increase in yield per decare from 1996, while Western Norway had a slight reduction. Per decare yields in Finnmark and Troms declined 20 per cent compared to 1996, due largely to the dry summer. Total yields in these counties were, however, not reduced by more than about five per cent, because of increased aceage for hay-cutting.

A total of 4.83 million decares were harvested in the first cutting, and 3.07 million decares in the second cutting. In addition, 1.41 million decares were used for pasture, bringing the total hay meadow and pasture acreage to 6.24 million decares.

Green forage and silage

Green forage and silage crops were grown on 357,000 decares. Of this 193,000 decares were planted with annual rye grass and 146,000 decares with green forage mixtures and small grains. The yield for annul rye grass was 2,936 kilos per decare and for green forage mixtures and small grains it was 1,546 kilos. Forty-seven per cent of the rye grass yield was harvested in Rogaland.

The total yield of green forage and silage crops was 834,000 tonnes in 1997, compared to 954,000 tonnes the year before. In 1996 the area planted with green forage and silage crops totalled 402,000 decares, so that the average yield for the country was virtually unchanged.

New Statistics

Agricultural yields, 1997.
Statistics are published annually in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics and Official Statistics of Norway (NOS) Agricultural Statistics. For more information, contact: Torbjørn Solberg, tel. +47 62 88 51 84, e-mail: torbjorn.solberg@ssb.no, or Kjell Erik Kordal, tel. +47 62 88 51 82, e-mail: kjell.erik.kordal@ssb.no.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 15-16, 1998