News Sugar beets
Despite drought, sowing beets goes smoothly
The sowing of the sugar beet went smoothly throughout Europe due to stable dry and sunny weather. Only in the Netherlands was the handbrake on for a long time. Now that significant rain has still not fallen, many arable farmers have sown and irrigated where possible.
At the start of week 15, exactly the 50% limit was removed in the Netherlands. Another 32% was sown in a week. It is striking that all cultivation areas move fairly evenly in sowing. Normally, sowing starts in the southwest and slowly shifts to the northeast. At the moment, most beets still have to be sown in West Brabant (42 percent to go). The Noordoostpolder is the most advanced. At the beginning of this week, almost 96% was already in the ground. The sowing has not yet been completed anywhere, as a result of which the average sowing date of 2019 (April 7) will not be achieved this year.
Where possible, growers have often watered for the beets. To start with, before sowing, so that the soil crumbled better and the seed was placed in a moist substrate. Due to the strongly drying weather, a second watering was usually necessary.
Admission to Batavia
Again Minister Schouten has a temporary exemption granted for the insecticide Batavia. The product may be used in sugar beet until the end of July. Last year this was to combat the beet fly. This year it is for the control of aphids to combat beet yellowing disease.
Belgians sow early
In Belgium, the sowing of the beets went smoothly. Especially on the lighter soils in the middle and east of the country. On 9 April, 60% of the acreage was already in the ground. Growers of Raffinerie Tirlemontoise were more advanced than Iscal Sugar. By now, it is expected that almost all beets have been sown, but lack of moisture is also a problem here.
German beet growers have sown their crops smoothly, according to figures from Pfeifer & Langen. Sowing at the 5 plants started in mid-March and sowing was completed in all areas by April 14, except for the plant in Lage (Lower Saxony).
Wet winter positive
This also applies to English beet growers. At the beginning of April, three quarters were already in the ground, because the conditions were favourable. A lot could be sown, especially on light soil. Clay soils in the east are also dry and hard, with poor soil structure after an extremely wet autumn and winter. This is an advantage on light soils, because the substrate is still very moist.
British Sugar is increasing the acreage slightly this year by 4% to 104.000 hectares. With an average yield of 75 tons per hectare, this means a harvest of 1,18 million tons of sugar. Last year the harvest was only 69 tons per hectare due to drought.
Shrinkage in France
In France, the Ministry of Agriculture estimates that a beet acreage will decrease by more than 5%, which is 4% below the multi-year average. Other acreage figures are not yet known, but they are not expected to increase in most countries due to the closing of beet factories and an uncertain situation on the sugar market.
Niels van der Boom
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