The harvest season has only just started, but the first signals for the yield and quality of winter wheat in the Netherlands are not very favorable. Arable farmers have to make do with two to three tons less than they are used to. Grain collectors hope that crops sown later will perform better.
Special with a capital B. That's how you can describe the growing season. This is no different for grains. Only a small part was sown before the heavy rainfall. This winter barley and wheat in particular has suffered from high disease pressure. Partly because of this, the yields are simply disappointing. Dark and wet weather during the flowering period did not contribute to this either. "We see this especially in the hectoliter weights, which are just above 70," says Bram de Visser of CZAV. "At the beginning of the season you normally expect to start above 80."
Yesterday the wheat with a strip #urgent clover mixture harvested. A completely different experience to walk in such a crop! I think this project has quite a lot of potential, especially for biodiversity. But such undersowing also poses many risks and challenges! pic.twitter.com/wBX0ySkqQG
— Johan van Beek (@johan_2710) July 21, 2024
Long season
"Harvesting of the first winter wheat started in many places in the Netherlands at the end of last week," says Aart den Bakker, grains manager at Agrifirm. "Not only in the south and Flevoland, but also in Groningen. It is a special year, as is evident. You see crops that are ready for it, but also very green (summer) wheat. The expectation is that we will have an elongated get a harvest." George Pars of the company of the same name from Sint-Jacobiparochie also shares this opinion. "The first early wheat has also been harvested in Friesland," he says. "In Flevoland, where we are active with Poldergraan, more threshing took place last week. The harvest will probably be very scattered this summer.
CZAV received winter wheat from all parts of their working area in the southwest of the Netherlands last week and early this week. "In addition, a late plot of winter barley is being harvested, as well as the first spring barley," says De Visser.
The first 2 plots of wheat have been removed.
— The Hoekse farmer's wife (Trudy) (@Trudy_dJ) July 22, 2024
Chevignon; 8 tons per hectare
addiction; 8 tons per hectare.
A shame, because the Addiction looked beautiful until a few weeks before the harvest. But insufficient protection against septoria. #addiction #chevignon #wheat2024
The first reports for wheat are around seven to eight tons per hectare. There are outliers upwards, but also downwards. The hectoliter weight often fluctuates between 70 and 73. Here too, outliers can be found, up to 75 and 76, but that is an exception this season. "Last year the early sown plots were good and the summer grains were bad due to drought," says Pars. "I think it is exactly the other way around this year, based on the situation in the country. The wheat and winter barley have suffered a lot from diseases, which has an impact on the yield." Den Bakker sees a lot of septoria damage in wheat. “That eats up revenue.” "If the flag leaf is not free of diseases, the plant cannot absorb and utilize sunlight optimally," De Visser adds.
Also summer barley in
It does not come as a complete surprise that winter wheat produces two to three tons less yield than is usual on clay soil. The yield of winter barley was not much better. Some plots reached nine tons, but there are also outliers. Agrifirm has now also received the first spring barley, but it is still too early to say anything about its brewability, Den Bakker indicates.
According to CBS figures, the area of winter wheat has decreased by no less than 34% this year, to 80.000 hectares. "This varies greatly per province," says Pars. "In Flevoland, perhaps only 10% less has been sown, while in Friesland that is at least a quarter." Part of this area is filled with spring wheat and barley. The area of spring wheat even doubled. "Thanks to sufficient moisture, the spring wheat is doing well," says Pars. "This also applies to the winter wheat that was sown in January." De Visser also sees this image in his work area. "The late winter wheat plots are doing remarkably well and the same applies to the early spring wheat."
Wheat Addiction threshed October 10, sown. 7300 kg per ha at 14.6% moisture and a hectoliter weight of 73.7 With considerable variation within the plot from 5 tons to 11 tons. Satisfied after cursing his susceptibility to illness all year. pic.twitter.com/cZWb5Myaaw
— Frank Kuijpers (@FrankPKuijpers) July 19, 2024