Growers feel drought in their wallets

We are increasingly confronted with drought in the Netherlands. Little rain fell in the first months of 2020, so many growers of the Boerenbusiness We had to irrigate crops to be able to work the soil. For some participants a considerable extra cost.

Due to the heavy rainfall last winter, the groundwater levels have returned to level. This ensures that there is sufficient water available for irrigation. However, the extreme drought required more operations than usual. As a result, growers had to incur more costs, not only as a result of more operations, but also more labor on the land than usual.

Various growers of De Gewastour are feeling the consequences of the drought. On the light soils, the difference is barely noticeable, on the heavier soils, on the other hand, the drought is strongly felt, also in the wallet. Growers who grow on clay soil are clearly the least happy with the lack of precipitation. 'I spend an average of 75-100 euros per hectare on processing. More operations are needed, which means that I already incur more costs than in other years," said the participant from Scharendijke.

Thinking about autumn editing
They are also experiencing the consequences of the drought at Aeres University of Applied Sciences in Dronten this year. The soil was worked twice and irrigated once to make the soil fine for the onions. There are still many clods left. As a result, the school is thinking about tilling in the fall, so that more moisture can remain in the soil. The idea is that by adjusting the operations in the autumn, a better seedbed can be made in the spring.

Drought Forecasts
Growers are increasingly faced with dry conditions, will this become the new normal? In 2014 KNMI made climate scenarios. The weather institute predicts that hot summers and mild winters will become more common and could become a standard. The KNMI also expects the intensity of precipitation to become more intense. In other words, extreme showers in the summer months.

Most Crop Tour growers believe that the summers can get hotter and the winters milder, but that can also bring benefits. During planting and sowing, the lack of precipitation is not a problem. "There is less stress, no rain makes planning work easier because you can do what you want every day," says the grower from Dronten. His costs are also significantly higher this year compared to other years. However, he also sees benefits and prefers to use the sprinkler system at the beginning of the season rather than having too much water on the land and having to do the work when it's dry for a few hours.

Historical shifts
Historically, it appears that on an annual basis there is more and more precipitation in the Netherlands. Around 1910 there was an average of 692 millimeters of precipitation, today that average is around 873 millimeters. An increase of 26% in more than a century.

If we look at the figures from the KNMI, it is clear that the winter months are the wettest. In this season we see an increase of 43% compared to a century ago. In the other 3 seasons the increase is less significant. In the spring we see 27% more precipitation, followed by the summer with an increase of 17% and the autumn with 22% more precipitation compared to 1910.

If we look more closely at the amount of precipitation, we see that the first 3,5 months of 2020 will be wetter than the same period in 2019. 2020 had a drier spring, but a wetter winter compared to 2019. However, if we look at the amount of precipitation per month is still ahead of 2019.

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