The spreading of slurry is erratic due to wet fields, while supply and demand vary between regions. Meanwhile, differences in supply and transport costs lead to variability in collection fees. Read more about price differences in the manure market.
Where operations are not yet running at full capacity, farms are ready to go. Time is of the essence. Thanks to the favorable growing weather, the wheat is already looking good, but the soil does not yet allow the machines to operate everywhere. However, the crop is in such good condition that there is little time to apply the fertilizer properly.
Some distributors point out that some rain is in the air again next week. Therefore, they regularly make the rounds of calls to arable farmers and contractors to see where manure can already be spread.
Manure is being spread particularly in Flevoland, Haarlemmermeer, Limburg, and the southwest of the country; elsewhere, it will pick up again on a massive scale today or tomorrow. It has been too wet so far, especially in Groningen and Drenthe. Some do not foresee good conditions for spreading manure there until sometime next week.
Major differences in Brabant
What stands out is that there are currently significant differences in the submissions for the DCA Manure Quotation. This applies particularly to cattle slurry in Brabant. The average collection fee is around €27 to €28 per cubic meter, but there are parties where the contribution is clearly below that level. We see this especially around Deurne, where three contributors report a collection fee of €23 per cubic meter. However, the quotation there comes out at €28 per cubic meter, and that gap is quite large.
Elsewhere, there are also significant price variations at the moment, although the differences there are much smaller than in Brabant. There are several possible explanations for this situation. Supply and demand vary considerably among different companies. One has a large supply while sales are difficult due to the wet weather, whereas another has high demand and has to search for suppliers.
Transport distances are also weighing increasingly heavily at the moment. Diesel costs are skyrocketing, and while a few are factoring this into their prices, others still find it difficult, as where can the fuel bill be passed on? It is either a higher collection fee from the livestock farmer or lower compensation for the arable farmer. In this field of tension, it simply depends on where the most pressure arises: the arable farmer who is in a hurry to get manure on his wheat, or the livestock farmer who wants his pit emptied.
Click here to view the DCA fertilizer quotations by region.