News Sugar beets
Difficult spring resounds in French beet harvest
The severe frost damage in French sugar beet this spring is clearly reflected in the yield. Although the sugar yields are average, growers are not satisfied. There is also still a lot of damage from the yellowing virus.
The average sugar percentage of French beets at the end of October is 17,2%. That is a lot by Dutch standards, although our average is now 16,9% due to a sunny September. The tare percentage in France is on average 7,9%. 2% more than we do. These are average quality figures for France.
frost damage
The yield in particular is disappointing for many growers. A dark summer with a lot of precipitation is the cause, they think. Especially south of Paris, in the department of Ile-de-France, the yields are lower than expected. The growers' organization also attributes this partly to the frost damage this spring. At the time, 70% had to be sown in this area. As a result, the crop lacked growth for a month. The beginning of the summer was very wet and that did not help the yield either. In the Champagne and Seine-Maritieme regions, the story is similar.
A total of 40.000 hectares of French beets were planted this spring overseeded when the mercury dropped to as much as -4 in mid-April. The sowing season had just started early. Nationally, 10% of the acreage made a false start.
Fifth harvested
Growers' organization CGB calculates with a yield of 87 tons per hectare with 16% sugar this year. That is equal to the five-year average, if you do not include 2020. At that time, a yield of 72 tons per hectare was estimated. In the end it became 61,4 tons/ha because the yellowing virus was a big problem in plots. It is still relatively early to make an estimate. On October 10, a fifth of the harvest had been harvested and 15% had been processed. The yield has so far been 77 tons/ha with 16% sugar. That too is average.
Still yellowing virus
Despite the fact that French arable farmers were able to make use of a derogation this year to sow seeds coated with neonicotinoids, yellowing virus is present in all beet regions. Arable farmers are particularly affected in the Center-Val de Loire area. Nevertheless, CGB says that 90% of beet crops benefit from neonics treatment. This has happened with a quarter lower dose than before.
The figures do not quite reflect the real situation. The actual percentage sown with neonics-coated seed is 77%. This is because no treated seed was available during overseeding. Therefore, uncoated seed was used. The emergence of the oversown plots has also been very variable, so that the state of the crop is now heterogeneous. This is especially difficult with harvesting.
In our country
In the Netherlands, on the reference date 21 October, 30% of the total beet harvest had already been produced processed† Both Dinteloord and Hoogkerk run flawlessly. Loading is also smooth. The tare percentage is 9,9% and the recoverability is 90,7.
Niels van der Boom
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