How is the campaign progressing?
We are now over a month into the sugarbeet campaign and have processed about a third of the volume. Time for an interim review and outlook from the Director of Agricultural Affairs, Arno Huijsmans.
"Many growers, especially in the southeast of the Netherlands, had to sow late, so they have a short growing season. In those areas we haven’t loaded any beets in the first month, so they can stay in the ground a bit longer. In some other areas, mostly with clay soil, like Oldambt, we have almost collected everything in just four weeks. Nowadays, we load 22% of the area with beet mice, which means there is less soil between the beets, which is beneficial for sustainable transport.
We see large differences in yields and sugar content across the country. Based on the results so far, we lowered our expectations for this campaign. We thought we would end up with 7% less sugar yield, now we expect it to be just under 8% less than previous years.
In any case, we have seen lower yields over the last five years compared to the years before. This is partly due to increasingly extreme weather: wetter and warmer. This increases disease pressure, especially in terms of leaf fungi. And that is unfortunate, because due to stricter legislation, we have fewer crop protection products to address them.
The positive side of all these challenges is that they accelerate developments. It is nice to see what has already been achieved with, for example, the spot sprayer and the weed platform. And there are many more positive developments. For now, the weather is also favourable: sunny during the day, cold at night. This is good for sugar production in the beet and helps with a good harvest. I hope the favourable weather continues in the coming period."