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4 weeks extra for harvesting corn and sowing catch crop

30 September 2021 - Redactie Boerenbusiness - 4 comments

Agricultural entrepreneurs have until October 31 to harvest crops such as maize and then sow a catch crop. Outgoing Minister of LNV Carola Schouten, with a view to the practical situation, strokes her heart.

She writes this a letter to the House of Representatives† Schouten notes that the postponement of four weeks, which she is granting at the request of the House of Representatives, goes against what is necessary for soil and water quality and that she is certainly not always prepared to grant a postponement. For this reason, she also advises farmers to harvest as quickly as possible and not only to pay attention to the optimal ripening moment. 

Farmers' organizations such as LTO Nederland, the NMV and the contractors' organization Cumela are happy with the postponement. "Nature does not allow itself to be guided by the calendar. It is good news that farmers now have more space to harvest at the right time," says Tineke de Vries, portfolio holder Soil and Water at LTO Nederland. "Rigid sticking to calendar farming doesn't work."

Despite the postponement, contractors continue to work hard. There is a fairly heavy crop in maize in particular. In addition, a catch crop must also be sown quickly. According to Schouten, this can be done up to three days after the harvest. According to the minister, entrepreneurs may grow a single after crop, but it may also be a mixture of different crops, as indicated by the Implementing regulation for the use of fertilizers.

Among others, the Dutch Dairy Farmers' Union (NMV) requested to change the sowing date to October 31† Due to the relatively cold and wet spring and summer, much maize is not yet ripe on October 1, the date the catch crop should have been sown. Harvesting unripe maize has a negative influence on the nutritional value, the starch is only formed when the cob is ripe. In addition, unripe silage maize is often very acidic. This can lead to problems with the digestion of livestock and to the development of dangerous gases in the silo or silage pit.

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4 comments
Subscriber
sand burke 30 September 2021
This is in response to it Boerenbusiness article:
[url = https: // www.boerenbusiness.nl/ artikel/10894424/4-weeks-extra-voor-oogst-mais-en-zaad-vanggewas]4 weeks extra for harvesting maize and sowing catch crop[/url]
a happy fact has happened. the first decision by minister schouten that is in line with good agricultural practice was taken in the more than 4 years that she has been minister, although it was taken with some reluctance.
Subscriber
Drent 30 September 2021
Still, I think it's largely my own fault, you could already see from spring and summer that the harvest time was uncertain, why not under-sow? Here in the north, almost everyone is already doing that.
Subscriber
sand burke 30 September 2021
drent wrote:
Still, I think it's largely my own fault, you could already see from spring and summer that the harvest time was uncertain, why not under-sow? Here in the north, almost everyone is already doing that.
if I can only fertilize 80% of the agricultural standard, I don't want to see this lost in a catch crop
Subscriber
Drent 30 September 2021
sand burke wrote:
drent wrote:
Still, I think it's largely my own fault, you could already see from spring and summer that the harvest time was uncertain, why not under-sow? Here in the north, almost everyone is already doing that.
if I can only fertilize 80% of the agricultural standard, I don't want to see this lost in a catch crop
okay that's a choice but don't complain that you don't make the date. We sow ourselves every year because we don't want to run the risk that the maize is not ripe.
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