Lorenz von Schintling-Horny
Lorenz von Schintling-Horny
Lorenz von Schintling-Horny
grows 550ha (1360 acres)
of cereals, osr and
sugar beet in partnership
with a neighbour in
Lower Saxony. A further
190ha (470 acres) is
farmed in Brandenburg,
north of Berlin in
partnership with his wife
FOUR weeks ago I was a very happy farmer. I was proud of my fields and looked forward to an easy and good harvest.
Now, wind, hail and rain has changed all that. Not even 1% of my oilseed rape, rye or wheat is still standing. A storm on July 10 caused much damage in Berlin as well as in the fields.
Our oilseed rape, which was already ripe, lodged and 20% of the seed shed. Now it looks black due to verticilium, sclerotinia and phoma. Yields will be at least 1t/ha less than expected at about 2t/ha (16 cwt/acre).
Winter barley yields are 2.5t/ha (1t/acre), about 25%, lower than last year. Take-all, eyespot and a new sort of "second barley yellow dwarf virus" have exacerbated inadequate rooting due to later than normal drilling. Added to that it is only worth k80/t ex farm.
To add to the woes, last week we had 110mm (4.3in) of rain in one day. Records say the last time that happened was in 1882. We have now had another 40mm (1.6in) and many rivers have flooded. Several hundred hectares of my wheat are under water and a total of 100,000ha of wheat is in a similar plight.
On my farm, all the wheat has lodged. As it is still three weeks to harvest there is no hope of having milling quality and I reckon we will lose 20% on last years yields. Indeed, I will be relieved if I harvest it at all because it is totally flat.
Normally my Lexion 460 copes with my 300ha wheat crop but I have decided to hire another from the maize region in north-west Germany, costing us k60/ha before labour and fuel.
Hopefully it will allow us to clear what will surely be the worst harvest of my agricultural career. Not only are prices poor, but now we face a horrendous harvest too. We will have to tighten our belts sharply in order to get through these difficult times. *
Barley is only worth the equivalent of £52/t ex farm and now we face a horrendous harvest, says Lorenz von Schintling-Horny.