Harvest 2016: Growers fear oilseed rape harvest may be worst for years
Fears over yields and quality of oilseed rape in East Anglia and southern England are being realised this week, with some growers reporting their worst harvest for many years.
Flea beetle damage and higher instances of verticillium wilt have been blamed for the lacklustre yields so far this harvest.
On RH Maddever Farms near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, the rapeseed harvest finished earlier this week, having kicked off on 19 July.
Here yields of the hybrid variety Extrovert ranged from 2.2-3.2t/ha on 300ha of mostly heavy land, with moisture low at 4.5-7%.
See also: 9 ways farmers can beat stress at harvest
Oilseed rape being cut on RH Maddever Farms near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Photo taken by Henry Maddever
Andrew Maddever says growing the crop in a flea beetle hotspot has again taken a toll on yields, resulting in what he calls his worst oilseed rape harvest for 29 years.
As a consequence, he will either reduce the area of the crop grown in the future or ditch it altogether.
“Flea beetle damage varied massively this year, but even crops that looked good were actually decimated,” Mr Maddever says.
He notes that greater verticillium wilt infection and excessive rain have also contributed to the poorer yields.
https://twitter.com/MaddeverAndrew/status/756598392084627456
Mr Maddever is hopeful of starting the winter wheat harvest this week, with the early-maturing milling varieties Cordiale and Gallant likely to be the first crops to meet the combine.
While the wheat is looking reasonable, blackgrass has been a real struggle to control this year and yields may be hit as a result.
Further south, near Standford-le-Hope in Essex, E&K Benton Farms started harvesting oilseed rape on Monday (25 July) with variety Vision yielding a more promising 3.9t/ha.
Harvest worker Daniel Low says the farm seems to have escaped the worst of any flea beetle attack this year on the 120ha total rapeseed area, although varieties Campus and Barbados are still to be cut.
“So far the yields are looking good, with a fairly good sample of nice, bold seed coming into the shed from a thick and even crop.”
Providing the dry weather holds, he expects the crop harvest to be complete by the end of this week.
Vision OSR coming in at 7-8% moisture with a decent yield of around 1.6t/ac #harvest16 @FWharvest pic.twitter.com/tZ2J1W6RJi
— Daniel Low (@Danlow97) July 25, 2016
Winter barley
Alastair Baseley, Nottinghamshire foreman for JS Peake & Sons, says his winter barley harvest has come to a close slightly earlier than in 2015 as a result of less catchy weather, but he hasn’t seen a repeat of last harvest’s yields, which peaked at about 12t/ha.
Mr Baseley share-farms 500ha with eight other growers near Epperstone, 10 miles north-west of Nottingham.
This season, winter feed barley yields ranged from 6.9-8t/ha with specific weights averaging about 60kg/hl and good moisture levels of between 11-14%.
@KWSUKLtd Tower did 8t/ha. Block of glacier did 7.9t/ha other block glacier did 6.9t/ha it burnt up in May.Bu 55/65 pic.twitter.com/gZL0JdwjqI
— Alastair Baseley (@AlastairBaseley) July 25, 2016
Feed variety Tower was the star performer on a 43ha block that averaged a reasonable 8t/ha, while 10.8ha of Glacier on lighter land averaged only 6.9t/ha, with the specific weight languishing at between 55-59kg/hl.
“For the season we have had we can’t complain too much. We just didn’t have as favourable conditions as last year,” Mr Baseley says.
“We were 100 hours short of sunshine in June so that hit the specific weight and the lighter land burnt up during a hot spell in May, which is why it yielded less than the other areas.”
He adds that harvesting of oilseed rape is likely to begin this week, with 150ha to cut in total.
On Darley Ash Farm in Bovingdon, Buckinghamshire, harvesting of the winter malting barley variety Venture began this week.
So far it has yielded a 6.7t/ha average with a specific weight averaging 55kg/hl, says Harry Pilling.
Meanwhile, in Cornwall Jeremy Oatey was unimpressed with yields on Tower winter barley, with specific weights somewhere between 55-65kg/hl.
Another load of Tower barley heading to store. 14% moisture but unexciting bushel at 58kg/hl @FWharvest #harvest16 pic.twitter.com/T2BlDuxBde
— Jeremy Oatey (@JeremyOatey) July 23, 2016
In Yorkshire, grower Peter Trickett says his winter barley is producing a lot of straw without the grain yield to match.
Never known so much straw for so little yield. #barley #harvest16 Also unusual, highest yields where it is laid. pic.twitter.com/4JmZdXl1IQ
— Peter Trickett (@jptrickett) July 26, 2016
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