The harvest season has only just begun, but the first signals for the yield and quality of winter wheat in the Netherlands are not very favorable. Arable farmers will have to make do with two to three tons less than they are used to. Grain collectors hope that later sown crops will perform better.
Special with a capital S. That's how you could describe the growing season. It's no different for the grains. Only a small portion was sown before the heavy rainfall. It is precisely this winter barley and wheat that has suffered from high disease pressure. As a result, the yields are simply disappointing. Dark and wet weather during the flowering period has also not helped. "This is especially reflected in the hectoliter weights, which are just above 70," says Bram de Visser of CZAV. "At the beginning of the season, you would normally expect to start above 80."
Elongated season
"In many places in the Netherlands, the harvesting of the first winter wheat began at the end of last week," says Aart den Bakker, grain manager at Agrifirm. "Not only in the south and Flevoland, but also in Groningen. It's a special year, as it turns out. You see crops that are ready, but also still very green (spring) wheat. The expectation is that we will have a prolonged harvest." George Pars from the eponymous company in Sint-Jacobiparochie shares this opinion. "In Friesland, the first early wheat has already been harvested," he knows. "In Flevoland, where we are active with Poldergraan, more was already threshed last week. The harvest is likely to be very spread out this summer.
CZAV has received winter wheat from all parts of their working area in Southwest Netherlands last week and early this week. "In addition, a late plot of winter barley is being harvested and also the first spring barley," says De Visser.
The initial reports for wheat are around seven to eight tons per hectare. There are outliers both above and below. The hectoliter weight mostly fluctuates between 70 and 73. There are also outliers up to 75 and 76, but that is exceptional this season. "Last year, the early drilled crops were good and the summer grains were poor due to drought," says Pars. "This year, I think it's exactly the opposite, judging by the situation in the fields. Wheat and winter barley have suffered a lot from diseases, which has an impact on the yield." Den Bakker sees a lot of septoria infestation in wheat. "That eats into the yield." "If the flag leaf is not free from diseases, the plant cannot absorb and utilize sunlight optimally," adds De Visser.
Summer barley also harvested
The fact that winter wheat yields two to three tons less than usual on clay soil is not entirely surprising. The winter barley yield was not much better. Some fields yielded nine tons, but there are also lower outliers. Agrifirm has also received the first spring barley, but it is still too early to say anything about its brewing quality, according to Den Bakker.
According to CBS figures, the area of winter wheat has decreased by a whopping 34% this year, to 80,000 hectares. "This varies greatly per province," Pars observes. "In Flevoland, maybe only 10% less was sown, while in Friesland it's definitely a quarter less." Some of this area has been filled with summer wheat and barley. The area of summer wheat has even doubled. "Thanks to sufficient moisture, the spring wheat looks great," says Pars. "This also applies to the winter wheat that was sown in January." De Visser also sees this trend in his working area. "The late plots of winter wheat look remarkably good, and the early summer wheats as well."
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