Gross harvest of crops is the total volume of harvested agricultural products, which can be calculated for one specific crop or for a specific group of crops. The term has been used since 1954. The measure is natural units. A synonym for this concept is gross agricultural output.
Gross harvest of crops is one of the types of gross harvest of crops. It directly depends on the crop, being, in fact, its equivalent.
What are crops?
Cereals are one of the most important types of crops for humans. They play a major role in providing humanity with food, and the areas they occupy are maximum in comparison with those of other groups of agricultural crops. In addition to foodstuffs, alcohol and other organic substances are produced from grain, including those used for biofuel production. The third purpose of cereals is the production of pet food.
All crops are divided into bread and legumes. The first belong to the family of cereals and include species such as wheat, rice, oats, corn, rye, millet and other cultures less known in our country. An exception is buckwheat, which belongs to the buckwheat family.
Legumes belong to the botanical family legumes. In some cases, cereals are only cereals. The main types of crops are wheat, rice, barley, oats, corn and buckwheat.
The main grain exporting countries are the USA, Russia, Argentina, the European Union, Canada, Australia. They account for over 85% of the total world grain exports. The main countries consuming grain are China, Turkey, Japan and Saudi Arabia. Given the agricultural potential of China, it could be an important exporter of various agricultural products, but due to the high population it is forced to, on the contrary, purchase it.
Corn, wheat, and rice add up to 43 percent of the world's total calories.
Gross Grain Harvest and Harvest
A grain crop is the total volume (or mass) of grain ripened in the fields. Except for losses during harvesting, the gross harvest of grain is equal to the crop. Under adverse weather conditions, due to large losses, it can turn out to be significantly less than the yield. However, the calculation of the value of the crop is carried out precisely on the gross yield. Since it is quite difficult to calculate the lost grain. When they say that such and such a crop has been harvested, it means the gross harvest.
What is yield?
Under the yield of grain crops is understood the mass (or volume) of ripened grain per unit area (usually 1 ha) of agricultural land. There are several types of productivity:
- Planned yield is the average amount of grain production that can be obtained from 1 hectare in the current conditions.
- Potential yield is the maximum amount of grain that can be obtained from one hectare under favorable conditions.
- The expected yield is a rough estimate of the future crop (gross harvest) collected from 1 ha of sown area.
- Actual yield is the average weight (volume) of grain obtained from 1 ha of sown area.
- The yield on the vine is the whole mass of grain grown on one hectare of sown area. It is determined by collecting all grain from a certain territory before harvesting or by other methods. Allows you to estimate the amount of losses that occur during harvesting.
Harvesting means the totality of agricultural work to remove ripened grain from agricultural fields. It belongs to the final stage of growing crops. Over time, the degree of mechanization during harvesting increases.
The dynamics of the collection and yield of grain over the past 100 years
Productivity and total gross harvest of crops in Russia are not changing exactly the same. Consider the dynamics in more detail. Before World War II, the yield and gross yield remained unchanged, experiencing only local fluctuations. Then the rapid rise of both indicators began. Since 1970, gross yield has ceased to increase, while productivity has continued to grow, albeit at a slower rate. This indicates the beginning of a reduction in agricultural land.
In the 90s, gross output fell sharply. Productivity has fallen to a lesser extent. In the 2000s, gross harvest increased slightly, never reaching the level of the 70s and 80s, but crop yields increased sharply. This picture suggests that in the 90s, the reduction in area was combined with a decrease in yield indicators, which indicates a total decline in agriculture. In the 2000s, the reduction in acreage continued, but a sharp increase in crop yields more than offset this effect.
What wheat harvest is expected in 2018?
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the gross wheat harvest in 2018 will be 64.4 million tons, and the total grain harvest will be 100 million tons. At the same time, due to weather conditions, the total loss of grain mass will be at the level of 30 million tons. Such data was reported by a representative of the ministry to TASS.
Reasons for crop decline in 2018
Bad weather conditions (especially drought) are the main reason for lower forecasts for gross harvest of crops in 2018. Such subjects of the Russian Federation as the Republic of Crimea, the Volgograd Region, the Chechen Republic, as well as Altai and Kalmykia suffered the most from the drought. Also, the emergency mode due to soil moisture deficit can be introduced in the Rostov and Astrakhan regions, to a lesser extent in the Saratov and Samara regions, as well as in places in the Stavropol, Krasnodar territories and the Republic of Adygea.
In other areas, waterlogging is a risk to the crop. Such regions are: Arkhangelsk Region, Yakutia, Altai Territory, Novosibirsk Region, Tomsk, Omsk and Kemerovo Regions, as well as the Trans-Baikal Territory.
The difficult situation with the harvest due to heavy rainfall is observed in the Sverdlovsk, Kurgan and Tyumen regions. Here, a shift in the timing of sowing crops is expected by about 2.5 weeks. According to the ministry, all this can also lead to a decrease in yield.
At the same time, the total gross grain harvest in 2017 was a record one and amounted to 135.4 million tons, of which 85.9 million tons fell to wheat. The annual grain export reached 52.4 million tons.