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According to Tike’s advance harvest estimates, this year’s grain harvest will reach 4.1 billion kg. The grain crop will fall only slightly short (50 million kg) of the previous year. The bulk of the harvest is feed grain: 2.1 billion kg of barley and 1.1 billion kg of oats. The yield of bread grain – rye and wheat – was lower than in 2007: this year, the rye harvest amounted to 60 million kg and the wheat harvest to 778 million kg. More accurate harvest figures will be available in January 2009, when Tike will publish the final harvest statistics for 2008.

The Finnish grain harvest amounted to over 4 billion kg, but its quality does not measure up to previous years in all respects. Only 19 per cent of the wheat is of bread grain quality. On the other hand, as much as 80 per cent of the malting barley is of malting quality on the basis of protein content and grain size. Abundant rain during the growing season increased the incidence of mould in certain areas, but toxicity remained low. Tike and Evira have compiled advance information on the 2008 grain harvest.

Tike, the Information Centre of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, has completed the cereals balance sheet for the crop year 2007 - 2008. During the crop year, 3.4 billion kilograms of cereals were used in Finland. Of this amount, 63% was used for fodder and 14% for food. Thanks to the good cereals harvest in 2007 (4.1 billion kilograms), 720 million kilograms could be exported.

The weather in the current growing season has not been ideal for field crops in all areas. Germination of grain crops was hampered by the colder and drier than average weather conditions in May. The cool weather continued into June, but the drought was replaced by copious rains. The first two weeks of July have also continued with the rainy and cool weather.

Last year, Finnish people ate a good 76 kg of meat per capita on the average, i.e. 3.5 per cent more than in 2006. The consumption of vegetables increased by just under 6 per cent and that of fruit by about 7 per cent from the year before. Of dairy products, the popularity of yoghurt and skimmed milk continued to grow. Tike (Information Centre of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry) compiles an annual summery of the production, domestic use and consumption of the most important food groups in Finland.

Tike's advance information shows an increase on last year of about 86,000 hectares in the area sown to cereals. The increase on the year before is just short of 7%. In summer 2008, grain is grown in almost 55% of all fields. Conversely, the area under other crops has declined by over 32,000 hectares.

Last year, farms and horticultural enterprises employed about 145,000 people. The total number of working days accumulated was 22 million. The source of the information on the labour force on farms and in horticultural enterprises is the Farm Structure Survey conducted by Tike. The survey also examined other business activities on farms, the share of which is almost the same as in 2005. The results now published also include those of commercial greenhouses, unlike in previous years. Employee numbers declined by a fifth in the 2000s

Tike statistics on livestock numbers show that on 1 December 2007 there were just under three percent fewer bovine animals than in the previous year. The number of dairy cows decreased and the number of suckler cows increased, as in previous years. Pig numbers decreased slightly, with the largest decrease in the number of sows. The numbers of hens, sheep, and horses kept on farms, however, increased last year. Steady growth rate in the number of suckler cows continues

Tike (Information Centre of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry) has completed the preliminary data on the number of horticultural enterprises in 2007, and on the cultivated areas and production quantities of the various crops. Both the number of horticultural enterprises and cultivated area fell. With vegetables grown in the open and in greenhouses, as well as berries and ornamental plants, there were both risers and fallers in terms of both cultivated area and production quantities. There were 5,245 horticultural enterprises in 2007.

Tike statistics show a drop in milk production last year of a good two percent to 2,287 million litres. Milk producer prices were up on the previous year. Real prices, on the other hand, remained 7 - 9 percent below the top prices in the last decade. The volume of egg production remained almost the same as the year before, or 57 million kilos. The nominal egg producer prise rose by a quarter from the year 2006.

Tike statistics show that more meat was produced last year in Finland than ever before: 398 million kilos. Production increased by almost four percent from 2006. Pork and broiler meat production was at record levels. Beef production grew for a second consecutive year - although it has never been this low since the 1960s. Nominal meat prices rose on the previous year.

The Tike crop statistics show that the field harvest of 2007 was good. The grain harvest rose to 4.1 billion kilos from the 3.8 billion kilos of the previous year. There was an even steeper rise in the silage crop: it was all of 63% higher than in the drought year 2006. Based on information submitted by farmers, yields of sugar beet per hectare also reached record levels. Nevertheless, the total harvest of sugar beet was one third lower than last year, due to the drop in cultivated area. Grain harvest for 2007 4.1 billion kilos

84 percent of the Finnish rye fulfilled the quality criteria for bread grain. For the wheat harvest the proportion was half, which was clearly higher than in 2006. The proportion of malting quality barley was also higher than in 2006. The information is based on the 2007 harvest information collected by Tike and Evira. Plenty of regional variation in spring wheat