This year's harvest started exceptionally early. Reports of the rapeseed harvest beginning to appear in early July, and many farmers had their harvest done in July, not in August as usual. There was often even information that this year's harvest had ended earlier than last year's. Last year, by contrast, some farmers only started harvesting rapeseed in August.
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Grains not harvested everywhere
Although rapeseed sowing has begun in southern Poland, and social media sites feature reports of lupine or corn silage harvests, which are more associated with September, in the north of the country you can still come across combine harvesters working in grain. On the border of the Brodnica, Grudziądz and Wąbrzeźno counties, in the north-eastern part of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, we didn't have to look far to find grain that hadn't been harvested yet. A few kilometres of driving along a county road was enough to run out of fingers to count such plantations.
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Pampa, or the Argentine pukawa
There may be several reasons for this situation. Firstly, unfavourable weather. This year's harvest in this area was repeatedly interrupted by rain, for over a week it rained every evening, and for some time also regularly every other day. So there was a problem with the drying of grain, and in addition, several exceptionally heavy rains caused that in places there are still pondings in the fields, preventing the entry of machines. Another issue is the breakdown of machines, which, as every year, keep farmers awake at night and delay field work.
Weedy wheat in mid-August, photo by Maciej Sacha
Consequences of late grain harvest
Unfortunately, the delayed harvest of cereals is not without consequences, and some of them are already visible to the naked eye when driving along the field. Many of the plantations that have not yet been harvested are overgrown with weeds, especially barnyard grass. When the cereal leaves dried up, the soil was exposed, and the rainfall brought favorable conditions for the growth and development of plants, the problem of secondary weed infestation was only a matter of time. It is also clearly visible from the road that the cereals are clearly battered by wind, rain and in places also hail, which is why some of the grains have certainly fallen off, and the harvest of the lodged field will be difficult.
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Who is already sowing rapeseed? Sowing has started in Poland
Due to the prolonged high humidity, we should also expect the development of fungal diseases and the resulting increase in mycotoxin content, especially since we observed the blackening of cereals exceptionally early this year. Partly due to the loss of quality, and partly directly due to the late harvest date, the lower purchase price will also result if it were to take place immediately after harvest.
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18 hybrids, 12 populations. List of recommended winter rye varieties
