East of England harvest nets three-quarters of a billion pounds

The cereal harvest in the East of England generates more than three quarters of a billion pounds every year. Farmers spend hours producing thousands of tonnes of grain in our region.

Much of it comes to the Ipswich Grain Terminal, where more than three quarters of a million tonnes are exported every year. 200 lorries a day full of grain come to the port. This year, despite the weather, it’s fairing well.

But of course not all the grain from our region is exported. Some barley comes off the fields and is brought just a few miles to this Maltings in Stowmarket. Muntons is the largest malt extract manufacturer in Europe.

At this time of year 1,000 tonnes of barley a day come to Muntons maltings alone. Every year it produces 170,000 tonnes of malt.

East Anglia produces a wide variety of crops. But prices fluctuate – often following trends in wheat trade. A global glut means over the past 10 years prices have dropped by around £100 a tonne.

More than 39,000 people work directly in farming in this region and it supports many other jobs. And right now they are all flat out. It’s not difficult to see why this region has earned its title as Britain’s bread basket.

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