The cultivation of spring cereals, namely spring wheat and barley, was negatively impacted by unfavourable weather conditions in 2023, according to a report released by the federal statistics office, Statbel, on Wednesday.
Last year Belgium saw a substantial 42.6% decline in spring cereals' cultivation. The area dedicated to growing these cereals decreased by 55% in Flanders and 36.2% in Wallonia. At a national level, the decrease of grain maize was 16.3%. 73.2% of spring cereals were found in Wallonia, while Flanders accounted for 86.8% of grain maize.
The number of agricultural holdings also dropped in 2023 (-2.7%), bringing the total to 34,249 agricultural operations. The agricultural area mirrored this trend with a 0.6% reduction compared to the previous year.
Contrastingly, 2023 had "significant increases" in terms of the cultivation of winter cereals, partly due to better weather conditions in the spring of 2022, according to Statbel.
In terms of vegetables, an upward trend was observed for root and tuber crops, such as carrots and onions. The area for vegetables grown outdoors expanded by 1.3% in 2023. By contrast, the area of fruit trees decreased by 4.6%, with particular declines in apples (10.1%) and pears (2.4%) highlighted in the report.
The statistics office further notes that the proportion of fallow land also grew (7.8%) in 2023, following the implementation of the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP 2023-2027), which lays special emphasis on biodiversity conservation, and soil and water quality.
