Farmers in England planted a record area of winter rapeseed for this year's harvest, and joined Spanish farmers in lifting wheat sowings at the expense of barley acres, official data have shown,

England's farmers, responsible for the bulk of UK grain production, sowed 589,000 hectares of oilseed rape, a rise of some 9% on plantings the previous year.

Plantings of soft wheat jumped to 1.81m hectares, 10.9% higher than that the previous year and some 900,000 hectares above the 10-year average, with oats and field beans also gaining in popularity.

"Good weather conditions at the time of drilling contributed to these increased areas," the UK farm ministry, Defra, said.

"However, the area of barley decreased due to low price and poor market conditions."

Winter barley plantings fell by 4.8% to a three-year low of 342,000 hectares.

Rain in Spain 

Farmers' distaste at low barley prices, which will next year not be supported in the European Union by intervention buying, has also been reflected in Spain.

Farmers in Europe's third-ranked producer of the grain have cut plantings by 2.8% to just under 2.96m hectares, according to official estimates.

Durum, oats and rye plantings have fallen less far out of favour, while sowings of soft wheat have risen by 7.3% to 1.32m hectares.

Prospects for the grain harvest in Spain, which is particularly prone to dry weather, have been improved by abundant winter rain.