News Grain
'No more top yields for German farmers'
“Top yields of 50 million tons of grain for Germany are becoming increasingly difficult to achieve, even in years with ideal growing conditions,” says Guido Seedler grain market specialist from the Deutschen Raiffeisenverbandes (DRV) in response to this year's first crop estimate.
In addition to the weather, the stricter rules in the field of fertilization and crop protection are becoming noticeable. These come at the expense of revenue. In addition, the share of grain in the construction plan is decreasing among German farmers and they are intensifying the construction plan.
The current state of the crops is considered good. "Even when the temperatures dropped below -20 degrees, hardly any grain has wintered," says Seedler. "The snow cover that was there at the time ensured that." But frost damage can also occur later in the spring. "We saw that last year. A significant night frost in May damaged winter barley in various regions and to a lesser extent winter wheat at the setting."
Yield equal to last year
DRV expects the German harvest this year to be the same as last year's. A grain yield of 43,5 million tons and a rapeseed yield of 3,5 million tons is assumed for this season. According to DRV, slightly less summer grain is sown compared to last year. Summer grain sowing has now started under good conditions in Germany. The area of grain maize is likely to increase. This is at the expense of silage maize, which is grown to a large extent for the production of biogas.
Jurphaas Lugtenburg
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