The manure market is looking for sales this spring due to changeable weather and limited placement capacity. At the same time, supply remains ample and prices are under pressure. Read more about the sale of liquid manure.
Just as fickle as the weather is, the manure market is, in a sense, too. If you have a week of good weather, you are amazed at how much manure can be spread. If the weather turns, as happened on Wednesday, then as a distributor and/or contractor you have to switch gears immediately and search for customers you can turn to. Due to the showery nature of the precipitation, it is impossible to predict where you can or cannot go. In one place, just a few millimeters have fallen and the drag hose can get back to work after it has blown away a bit, while a little further on more water has fallen and you are done for the rest of the week. Overall, however, significantly less is being spread since Wednesday.
The fact that things are a bit quieter nationwide for the time being offers transporters and traders the opportunity to replenish storage in arable farming areas. However, some insiders indicate that they are being somewhat cautious about this. With the predicted cold nights, wheat growth will slow down somewhat, but that does not guarantee that everything on the schedule will actually receive fertilizer. Due to rising artificial fertilizer prices, moderate grain prices, and paying a considerable amount extra for slurry, the limits of what is still acceptable for spreading on wheat are being stretched somewhat.
Incidentally, the manure capacity does not disappear if no manure is spread in the spring. Last year, conditions were very favorable in the spring, and a large amount of manure was applied. Consequently, there was little to no demand for manure on the stubble during the summer. In 2024, however, it was not possible to get the manure onto the land in the spring, and a great deal was disposed of in the summer after the harvest for green manure.
Major regional differences
The belief or perhaps wish that manure disposal costs will fall significantly this spring is not shared by everyone. Supply, particularly of cattle manure, is very abundant, especially in the north, while capacity for application is limited due to the phasing out of derogation and the NV areas. In the southeast of the country, the collection fee, especially for cattle manure, is tending to decrease. A substantial volume has already been spread there. However, there are large price differences, even within regions. Disposal costs less for potatoes and maize in the vicinity than when transporting manure from Limburg to Zeeland or from the north of Friesland to Drenthe. Prices remain higher in the north, partly because a large volume still needs to be spread there.
Relatively expensive diesel also does not help to lower manure prices. Manure traders are trying to compensate for this by keeping the collection fee stable and reducing the price paid to the arable farmer. Due to the changeable weather and the fear of ending up at the bottom of the contractor's list if they let things fall through over the last euro, this is also accepted by recipients.