Extreme weather turns maize cultivation into top sport

The 2016 growing season was the textbook example of a season with extreme weather conditions. The heavy rainfall in June is still fresh in the memory. It is precisely because of this that it is emphasized once again why the condition of the soil is so important. After the experiences with maize, the Dutch Agricultural Youth Contact (NAJK) is now asking for an initiative with grass in combination with grazing.

Once every 2 years, Limagrain organizes the maize challenge together with the NAJK. A competition that answers the question of who can grow the best maize at the lowest price. However, it is more important to learn from each other and to take the cultivation of silage maize to the next level.

It can rightly be said that the 2016 season was a challenge. Hein Peeters, briefly outlines what the growing season looked like. 'It was a long and cold spring. On April 25, maize was even sown in the snow. May made up for everything. The weather was beautiful, but at the beginning of June an answer could be sought to the question of how long maize can be submerged in water.'     

It turns out that silage maize is not a crop that can withstand extremes in the weather. "Longer than 24 hours in the water is too much of a good thing." There is therefore no other option than to try to get the water away as quickly as possible in the event of flooding. It turns out that healthy soil pays off, because it can often get rid of the water faster. 

In any case, the challenge shows that maize benefits from crop rotation and does well on torn grassland, for example. Others go into the bottom with a shovel to see what is going on in lesser places. Peeters outlines that when it is visible to the eye that the maize is less developed, this quickly amounts to a 10 percent loss.  

Also in the room was an old acquaintance, namely Koen Bolscher, former portfolio holder for dairy farming at the NAJK. He excelled at cost. This amounted to 5,4 cents per kg dry matter and 5,3 cents per kg VEM. He indicates that without a high yield, low costs are not possible. He managed it by working well and quickly, crop rotation, keeping up with weeds and little fertilizer. He calls the yield leading and not the costs. 

That it is useful to improve the results on the farm, whether it concerns the cultivation of feed or the cost price of cows, is apparent from the words of Hans Scholte, van Flynth. 'That's what it's about. Finciers are increasingly looking at the return from the company.' In the past, it seemed that collateral was actually looked at. As long as there was enough, funding was provided.

On average, the 2016 season yielded 10 to 20 tons of dry matter per hectare and 1.000 VEM. On average, a hectare of maize costs 950 euros, 360 euros of which goes to contract work. These are averages, because the differences between the companies are large. For example, the dry matter yield was between 3,6 and 8,1 cents per kg of dry matter.

As it looks now, maize has a much lower phosphorus content in 2016 than in 2015. The exact cause of high or low phosphorus in maize remains a mystery.

The challenge that awaits maize cultivation is the more extreme weather, but in some places the cultivation of maize is also too expensive. A subject of attention is also the phosphorus in feed. Something that cows need to stay healthy, but which is now mainly seen as something that should be as low as possible in connection with phosphate production. A subject that also plays a role in grass and Bart van der Hoog, Koen's successor, points out another point of attention and that is grazing. The downward trend has been halted, but it is still good that more attention is being paid to grazing farms to prevent a further decline. The aim is to bring back the passion for grazing.

Van der Hoog hopes to follow the maize challenge with Limagrain to set up something in grass in combination with grazing. The 2015 and 2016 season saw abundant grass harvests, but there is still much to be gained in this area.      

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