Damage to crops after floods

Limburg and North Brabant, but also the Flemish and Walloon areas below, experienced an enormous amount of precipitation last week. An unimaginable amount of rain also fell in Germany. However, the damage in the border region and slightly further south is not too bad, according to the first reports. In Bavaria, among other places, it is a different story. There is also an emergency situation there.

Little damage in hills
Attention in the Netherlands is currently mainly focused on Limburg, where the precipitation and flooding started last Thursday. Locally, up to 200 millimeters of rain fell in the south of the province. In combination with a lot of water from Belgium and Germany, the rivers swelled quickly and caused flooding in many places. Growers in the south of Limburg indicate that the high fields do not suffer much damage. Only areas where the water could not escape and places where it flowed down were affected. Erosion is therefore a problem in certain areas. It may be 5% damage, one grower estimates.

The villages, companies and plots of land in the valleys have been hit very hard. This does not involve large areas of crops, but the devastation is incalculable. Further north in Limburg, the surging water mainly causes damage along the rivers the Maas and especially the Geul. Because the floodplains here have often been converted into nature reserves in recent years, the damage to crops is not enormous, apart from grassland and grain plots. However, farmers now have to deal with the devastation that is left behind. The land is littered with branches, plastic, wood and other rubbish.

4 meters under water
On the left bank of the Maas – in North Brabant – the picture is very different. Many crops are grown here on the heavy, fertile clay soil. These can all be considered lost. One of the affected growers is Tonnie Ebben of Ebben Aardappelen from Groeningen. "The water level here was 4 meters above normal. I could easily sail the boat over the 2 meter high corn," he says. "All consumption and seed potatoes have been lost. The seed potatoes in particular are a disaster for us. The costs per hectare are the highest, you lose years of work and have to start all over again." On Monday morning the water level has now dropped 20 centimeters. Here too it is visible that a lot of rubbish is left behind.

Ebben hopes that the river area will also be declared a national disaster to compensate for the enormous damage. It is not possible to take out broad weather insurance for plots in the floodplains. Moreover, this crop insurance does not cover damage caused by flooding, only damage caused by precipitation. Jan Schreuder, director of insurer Vereinigte Hagel, confirms this. "On Monday morning, the counter stood at 23 damage reports in the Netherlands and 34 in Flanders. All from Brabant, Limburg and the Belgian areas under these provinces. The appraisers are going out this week to do a first viewing. In South Limburg the damage is due to water to the crops, but there is certainly erosion damage."

Reimbursement uncertain
According to sources, outgoing Agriculture Minister Carola Schouten is visiting the province of Limburg today to see the damage with her own eyes. Farmers in the province are waiting to see whether the 'official disaster' status can compensate them for their damages. Rumor has it that rural areas may not be able to claim compensation. The final details of the National Disaster Fund remain to be seen.

Meanwhile, it is a lot drier in the western half of our country. For example, it is being rained again in Flevoland and the combines in the southwest can start working on barley and grass seed in many places this week. That contrast is also visible in Belgium. "East of the Antwerp-Brussels-Charleroi line, 90 to more than 150 millimeters of rain has fallen," says Daniel Ryckmans of potato organization Fiwap. West of there it is 0 to 20 millimeters. At the moment we do not yet have a picture of the damage in Wallonia. The arable crops are grown on the plateaus and that is where the water could flow away. The greatest damage is in the valleys. That is also where deaths have occurred. Apart from grass and some corn, there are no crops here"

Repeat of 2016
Ryckmans expects to see damage to potatoes in specific locations within a plot. Low spots, headlands and damage from erosion. It has been wet for the past 2 months, but 'the damage is now 5 to 6 times worse'. In Flanders, north of Hasselt to the Dutch border, there is also a lot of damage due to the precipitation at the end of last week. The picture is similar east of Eindhoven. The water could not drain in time, causing plots of land to be flooded.

This also applies to arable farmers Toon and Twan van der Heijden in Soerendonk. In 2016, they faced a similar situation. Then the entire harvest was lost. These claims have still not been fully resolved. The level in the streams and ditches has now dropped slightly in the area, but there is still water on the land. The extent of the damage to Van der Heijden and colleagues remains to be seen. It is difficult to see how much water is between the ridges. That will become clear in the coming days.

Estimation of affected area of ​​potatoes based on Boer&Bunder data.

2.500 to 3.000 hectares of potatoes
How many potatoes are we talking about in the affected areas? The potato futures market reacted sharply to the news and closed the week at €18,30. On Monday morning the stock market opens slightly higher and at the end of the morning the price is €18,70. When we get the data from Farmer&Bunder we can make a reasonable estimate of the area. If there is 5% to 10% damage in Limburg, this concerns 360 to 720 hectares of consumption and seed potatoes. Of the almost 900 hectares of consumption and 400 hectares of seed potatoes in the Gelderland river area, part can be 100% depreciated. The extent of the damage to almost 2.200 hectares of potatoes in East Brabant remains to be seen for now. Looking at the figures, you can only conclude that 2.500 to 3.000 hectares of potatoes have certainly been affected. From heavy crop damage to complete destruction. And then we're not even talking about the hectares of onions, grain, corn, grass and more. In the Belgian province of Limburg, this concerns 3.792 hectares of potatoes.

Several German regions are still experiencing heavy rainfall. The states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia were hit hard last week. However, the damage to potatoes and other arable crops is still estimated to be relatively low. The picture here is similar to the other countries. The low-lying areas have been destroyed, but the higher ground is not too bad. But it doesn't end there. A lot of rain fell in Bavaria and Saxony on Saturday, July 17, causing flooding there as well. Parts of Europe continue to suffer from severe weather that also strongly affects the agricultural sector. The potato futures market, but also the grain market (Matif), is reacting to the news.