'We do not want to postpone the beet campaign'

The sugar beets on light soil literally hang down, especially due to the drought and high temperatures. Suiker Unie is closely monitoring the situation, but has not yet decided whether the beet campaign will start later.

Gert Sikken, agricultural director of Suiker Unie, is clear: "This drought will have an effect on the beet harvest. It is difficult to quantify how big the effect is. We last reported at the beginning of July, when it was dry and the situation is certainly not improved."

Stress costs sugar
Sikken does not dare to make predictions about the yield. He does know that stress in the plant causes a yield loss of 200 to 300 kilos of sugar per day, per hectare. Both drought stress and heat stress are clearly visible in the plants.

At the end of June and the beginning of July, Suiker Unie sent the growers a provisional planning. "For the time being", emphasizes Sikken, "because we will not determine the final campaign planning until mid-August. Then we will be a few weeks further and hopefully we can say more. The planning that has been made so far is based on the situation in June."

Does delay have an effect?
The director cannot remember that the beet harvest was ever postponed by drought. "The question is whether this helps. It cannot be ruled out that the campaign will start later, but then it must have an effect. Are the conditions better then? It is difficult to say. Moreover, we are not charmed by regrowth at the end of August. That actually only has a negative effect and costs a lot of sugar. We prefer to start as late as possible."

The situation in the field has irrevocable consequences for the availability of pulp. "Most of it has been sold in advance", Sikken knows. He cannot give exact percentages. "Livestock farmers would like to have it. The biodigesters at the sugar factories are also fed with beet pulp. We can play with that to free up volume. The feed supply is really going to become a thing." In 1976, when there was a dire shortage, as much beet leaf as possible was collected to provide livestock farmers with enough food to have available.

Niels van der Boom

Niels van der Boom is a senior market specialist for arable crops at DCA Market Intelligence. He mainly makes analyses and market updates about the potato market. In columns he shares his sharp view on the arable sector and technology.

n.vanderboom@boerenbusiness. Nl

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