Archive Article: 1997/10/04
Grain and oilseed rape sowings in Germany for the 1996 harvest will both be an estimated 4% more than in 1995. Most of the cereals increase comes from winter wheat, although winter barley and triticale areas are also up.
Total estimated cereal area for 1996, including proposed spring sowings, will be around 6.8m ha (16.8m acres) of the countrys 11.7m ha (28.9m acres) arable crop land.
The oilseed rape increase represents an extra 36,000ha (88,956 acres) to a total 1.02m ha (2.52m acres).
German farmers have also signified that there will be an increase in both sugar beet and potato plantings this spring, by 1% and 3% respectively.
The most spectacular drop in proposed sowings is sunflowers, with only 76% of the 1995 area grown planned for this year.
Low yields because of last years drought made worse by poor prices (around £180/t) in autumn have turned farmers against the crop.
The other big losers for 1996 are peas and beans, down 6% to just 114,000ha (281,000 acres).
The Dutch are making enormous efforts to reassure export customers that its potato seed will be free from brown rot. This follows 86 confirmed cases of brown rot on Dutch farms, and two cases of seed found to be infected with brown rot after delivery to UK farms.
The Dutch are now adopting a two-stage testing process. The first is a seriological test, which takes three days. If there is any question about the result of the first ELIZA test, the sample is given a second test; extracts are injected into tomato plants and grown in a culture medium for the bacterium to be identified. This takes about two weeks.
An extensive survey by Dutch scientists has failed to pinpoint the source of the current brown rot problem, although they have narrowed it down to three possible areas. From these areas the bacterium could have been spread by irrigation water and seed.
A popular theory was that the bacterium was introduced from imported Mediterranean potatoes (mainly Egypt) where the problem is endemic.
Danish clampdowns on plant protection chemicals include a warning from the government that it wishes the national use of crop sprays to be halved before 1 January 1997.
The main tool forcing farmers to cut down on chemicals is, as usual, tax. Copenhagen already levies 25% VAT on sprays, the highest purchase tax within the EU for agrochemical products.
Now, total taxes on plant sprays during 1996, including those imported into the country, is expected to add up to 37% of the purchase price.
Total income from spray tax in the present year is expected to reach the equivalent of £26m and 80% of this, according to the government, is to be spent in encouraging "environmentally-aware agricultural practices".
Choose rhizomania-tolerant sugar beet varieties if theres even a suspicion of the disease on your farm, is the advice to French growers this year from the National Technical Institute for Beet (ITB).
The Institute is alarmed at the diseases rate of spread in France. In 1993, the area affected was 45,000ha (111,000 acres).
The next year affected fields had risen to 77,000ha (190,000 acres) and last year 98,000ha (242,000 acres) of rhizomania-affected beet were recorded.
Four rhizomania tolerant varieties are available this spring – Riposte, Rival, Roxane and Gabriela – with a newcomer, Elisa, out on probation.