Heat or no heat, the grower will thresh wheat

While the Netherlands is under the spell of heat records, the grower of winter wheat and spring barley does not care about the high temperatures. Many growers have started threshing winter wheat or spring barley. Often under the comfort of a closed cabin with air conditioning on the combine, that is.

How is the harvest going so far? In the southwest, a careful start was made on Monday and the harvest is already well underway. In Schouwen Duiveland in particular, threshing is well underway. About 27% of the harvest has been received, shows CZAV. In Zeeland, an average of more than 20% has been harvested.

About 20% of the Brabant clay is already in. The harvest has started cautiously in the Hoeksche Waard, but almost only with farmers who have air conditioning on the combine. In the southwest, the winter barley harvest is almost complete, but a lot of grass seed is still being harvested. As a result, not all combines are available.

Moisture content drops quickly
CZAV writes that the exceptionally warm and dry conditions and low humidity result in accelerated ripening. Almost all wheat is therefore below 16% moisture. Outliers are reported, where the moisture content is only just above 11%. The quality of the wheat seems to be good. Hectolitre weights are mainly high and exceed 80 kg/hl.

There is also plenty of threshing in Flevoland. The growers started a little later in the Oldambt, says resident and arable farmer Leendert Jan Onnes, portfolio holder arable farming at NAJK. "July 24, the first ones here started threshing on the lighter soils. The barley is largely gone. I can't say much about the yield yet, although I thought the grains were a bit on the small side."

The harvest is also in full swing in Great Britain and France.

Anne-Jan Doorn

Anne Jan Doorn is an arable expert at Boerenbusiness. He writes about the various arable farming markets and also focuses on the land and energy market.

aj.doorn@boerenbusiness. Nl

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