The cereal production is one of the most important part of the above mentioned calculations “supply balance sheets” and “sector analysis”. The cereal production statistics have to be carried out with highest quality, e.g. the European Union requires 3 % for the relative coefficient of variations at the production statistics of cereals.

For this purpose, the following definitions shall apply:

  • "harvest year" means the calendar year in which the harvest begins;
  • "utilised agricultural area" means the total area taken up by arable land, permanent grassland, permanent crops and kitchen gardens used by the holdings, regardless of the type of tenure or whether it is used as common land;
  • "area under cultivation" means the area that corresponds to the total sown area, but after the harvest it excludes ruined areas (e.g. due to natural disasters);
  • "cropped area" means the area that corresponds to the total sown area for producing a specific crop during a given year;
  • "harvested area" means the part of the cropped area that is harvested. It can, therefore, be equal to or less than the cropped area;
  • "production area", in connection with permanent crops, means the area that can potentially be harvested in the reference harvest year. It excludes all non-producing areas, such as new plantations that have not yet started to produce;
  • "harvested production" means production including on-holding losses and wastage, quantities consumed directly on the farm and marketed quantities, indicated in units of basic product weight;
  • "yield" means the harvested production per area under cultivation
  • total area under cultivation of crops from arable land;
  • total harvested area of vegetables, melons and strawberries;
  • (c) total production area of permanent crops;
  • (d) utilised agricultural area.

All these components have to be taken into consideration at the reliable calculation of the cereal production statistics.