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Sunshine and yield: early grain harvest in the southwest Palatinate!
The harvest of winter barley, wheat and rapeseed in the Zweibrücken region has begun. Good weather conditions promote yields.
Sunshine and yield: early grain harvest in the southwest Palatinate!
Farmers on the Sickinger Höhe and in Zweibrücker Land have ushered in the grain harvest this year. The weather conditions are optimal for harvesting winter barley, wheat and rapeseed quickly and efficiently. Christian Kau from Stockbornerhof in Battweiler is already in full swing with his harvest. Rapeseed, which promises extremely high yields, requires a special cutting device to harvest the plants properly. These developments are part of a nationwide trend that has gained traction in recent weeks - the harvest season is starting particularly early this year.
The current harvest forecasts show that German farmers will bring in more grain this year than last year. The German Raiffeisen Association (DRV) is raising the overall forecast to 41.4 million tonnes - an impressive increase compared to the 40.7 million tonnes from the previous month and 39 million tonnes from the previous year. What is particularly striking is the forecast for the wheat harvest, which at 21.5 million tons is also an increase compared to the 18.5 million tons of the previous year.
Harvest conditions and regional context
The improved harvest prospects are not only due to the timely start of the harvest. Rainfall in the last three weeks has significantly improved the water available soil. Despite regional differences in water availability, changing climatic conditions, such as lower temperatures in May, have contributed to lower evaporation. For the wheat harvest, we are now hoping for further rainfall in the coming weeks in order to achieve an even better result.
The forecast harvest volumes for other important crops are also considerable. A harvest of 8.45 million tonnes is predicted for winter barley, while experts expect over 3.9 million tonnes for rapeseed. Even if the total amount of grain harvested is around four percent lower than in the previous year, the expected yield remains above the average of recent years.
Cultivated area and yields at a glance
The area cultivated for grain this year is around 5.6 million hectares, which corresponds to a decrease of 0.8 percent compared to last year. There was also a decrease of 2.4 percent compared to the years 2017 to 2022. Regional yields per hectare show that North Rhine-Westphalia performs particularly well with 78.3 decitons per hectare. In contrast, Brandenburg has a yield of 46.8 decitons per hectare.
It remains to be seen how the harvest meeting will develop overall, as the next few weeks are crucial for the final yield. But one thing is certain: the farmers are looking forward to the coming days with excitement and hope and are counting on good business.
For more information about the current harvest and the agricultural economy you can read the articles on rheinpfalz.de, agrarheute.com and agriculture.de read up.