25 May 2011

Lincolnshire is suffering from the driest spring in over 60 years and crops are suffering. Freshplaza say that the situation is very serious for vegetable growers.

This comes after a very bad winter for the English growers who estimate damage to brassica crops caused by severe frosts in December at some 12 million pounds.

One Lincolnshire grower said the over wintered cauliflowers are finished and the new crop will begin middle of next week but there will not be enough of it to go round. As for the coming weeks there is no rain forecast for the area, some Lincolnshire growers have decided not continue with planting as there is no point in these dry conditions.

Oilseed rape and Sugar beet hit hard

It is just as bad in Norfolk. Dr Patricia Turnbull of the AICC said that there has been no more than 1mm of rain last week. Light land crops of oilseed rape are quickly losing colour and areas of fields are already showing premature senescence. Heavy land crops look alright but the moisture stress does not bode well for pod fill. We are expecting small seeds. The drought is now really beginning to affect the sugar beet crops, she told Farming Online. Light land crops on fertile (i.e. with organic manure) sites have produced plenty of leaf and are meeting across the row in areas of fields. However, these crops are now wilting in the breezy, sunny afternoons. On heavier soils and less fertile sites crops are showing signs of nitrogen shortage and plants have produced small leaves and older leaves are yellowing prematurely.

Weed control has been a hard long slog. Over the last 3 weeks spraying has been delayed by windy conditions and some weeds have now escaped chemical control. These fields looked on course for good weed control 3 weeks ago but the surviving weeds have grown and recent sprays have been applied too late to hardened large weeds. We are now resorting to the tractor hoe.

Yields cut by 20%

The National Farmers Union (NFU) has warned the region has been especially hard hit by the extreme weather, and crop yields will suffer as a result.

Allan Wilkinson, head of agriculture for HSBC, told Conveying News that UK oilseed and grain yields may be cut by as much as 20 per cent, but straw and corn for the animal feed industry is likely to be worse affected.