At Goeree-Overflakkee
First sugar beets go into the ground
The beautiful spring weather lures arable farmers outside in many places. cosun reports Tuesday 14 March that the first sugar beets were sown on the South Holland island of Goeree-Overflakkee. Sowing is expected to start in several places in the coming days.
More sugar beets are expected to be sown later this week, especially in the southwest and southeast of the country. There are also plans to start sowing in Flevoland. Contractors have the first customers on their books before the end of this week. Other areas are yet to start sowing.
In most fields, the soil is not yet suitable for a seedbed. Even the spreading of slurry, especially on sandy soils, cannot yet take place everywhere due to the wetness. In the northeast of the country, work is only carried out on high sandy soils. The first spring work has started in the southeast of the country.
According to Cosun, all beet growers received their beet seed on time. Only growers who have ordered too short in advance and subsequently reordered will receive extra seed by the middle of this week.
Last year, the sowing season also started on March 14. Then it was also the arable farmers on Goeree-Overflakkee who were the first to go onto the land. The first large-scale activities then started around 17 March. An area of approximately 88.000 hectares is expected to be sown for this beet year.
The average sowing date was April 10 last year. That's relatively late. Sowing was done late, especially in the northeast of the country and in the Noordoostpolder. There was almost a month difference between the average sowing date of Zeeuws Vlaanderen and the Noordoostpolder.
Niels van der Boom
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