Postponement of sowing of catch crop, harvest deadline remains

The reason for granting a three-week extension is the extremely wet spring. Between February and May, more than double the amount of precipitation fell each month than the average in the Netherlands. As a result, sowing and planting took place later and the crops suffered a growth delay. The Minister of LVVN concludes, based on the CDM expert committee, that it is not feasible for all crops to be ready for harvest and harvested by 1 October.

Nitrogen discount
In a letter to parliament on Wednesday 4 September, Wiersma announced a postponement until 21 October. After this date, farmers have seven days to carry out soil cultivation and sow the catch crop for silage maize. For other crops, the periods shift to 22 October to 3 November, 4 November to 19 November and 20 November. During these periods, the nitrogen discount of five, ten or fifteen kilos per hectare will be maintained. If no catch crop has been sown on sandy and loess soil after 20 November, the maximum discount of twenty kilos of nitrogen will follow in 2025.

Last year, former minister Adema finally decided not to check this because of the extremely wet autumn. This is a considerable bottleneck, especially for consumption potatoes. The Lower House also repeatedly expressed negative opinions about this form of 'calendar agriculture'.

Insufficient delay
This spring, many potatoes, especially in the South of the Netherlands, were planted extremely late in May, June or even early July. trial harvest data can be seen that these plots hardly had a significant yield at the end of August. It is highly questionable whether a deadline of October 21 is feasible for these plots. In a normal season, the French fry potato harvest already runs until the beginning of November. The chance that it will be later this year is very high. This saddles potato growers, or the owners of rented land, with a nitrogen reduction.