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Flanders puts a line through calendar agriculture
In Flanders, a line is drawn through the much-criticised policy of calendar agriculture. This concerns the mandatory sowing date of a catch crop. In practice, the measure does not work because nature cannot be controlled. This autumn underlines that once again.
The Flemish Agricultural Company (VLM) – an independent agency that supervises, among other things, the manure policy – has announced that it will no longer check the mandatory sowing dates of catch crops this year. The agency hopes that this requirement will be permanently scrapped in the next package of measures because it is not workable in practice.
Crop is leading
This news was announced by the Flemish Minister of Agriculture Jo Brouns on Friday 25 October. According to him, the removal of the rule does not mean that there is no obligation for a catch crop at all. "The farmer can now be guided by the ripening of the crop and no longer by the calendar."
Halfway through September, the VLM already announced that it would move the deadline from 15 to 31 October. This has everything to do with the late sowing and planting moment of corn and potatoes, among other things. Crops are ripe much later, which means that they cannot be sown on time. In addition, a relatively wet autumn in Flanders is causing additional problems with field work.
Flexibility new standard
Brouns hopes that the abolition of a hard deadline will be embedded in the upcoming MAP7 – the Flemish version of our 7th Action Programme Nitrate Directive – which still has to be converted into a decree. The legislation on the leaching of fertilisers must become a lot more flexible for farmers and thus more workable. The minister emphasises that farmers are not released from their obligation to work with catch crops. According to him, the effect of this has been proven positive.
In the Netherlands, colleague minister Wiersema already announced the data at the beginning of September relaxed for catch crops on sandy and loess soil. Farmers have until today (October 28) to sow a catch crop after silage maize. If you do this later, a nitrogen discount will apply in the following growing season. For other crops, the deadline has also been postponed until November, depending on the level of the nitrogen discount. A catch crop can be sown until November 20, for example after potatoes, although you will then have to deal with a 15 kilo nitrogen discount.
Deadline expired
The harvest deadlines for various crops have been left intact by the ministry. The one for potatoes (October 21) has now passed and at least 10% of the area is still in the ground. In our country too, this form of calendar agriculture is a thorn in the side of the sector.
Niels van der Boom
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