Farmers in northern Germany are reeling from the worst drought in living memory. The Irish Farmers Journal travelled to Brandenburg, near Berlin, in northeast Germany last week to see the damage to crops and the effect on farmers.
In 2018, there was 620mm of rain in Brandenburg. This year to date, almost nine months into the year, there has only been 192mm.
Three seasons have been affected. The spring was cold – much colder than normal with frosts of -60C in early April. This delayed sowing and germination of crops.
May was dry and warm, and the summer has been hot and dry since, so late-sown crops never got a chance to grow well.
Now farmers are worried about next year’s crop as the land is too dry to sow winter crops. Normally most farmers in the area would have sown winter oilseed rape but very little has been sown to date because land is too dry.
Soil type in this region is predominantly free-draining and sandy, although there are some peaty soils and crops here have done a lot better, but these fields are normally used for grass.
The cereal harvest is complete and yields are way back. In a normal year, farmers would expect to get 5t/ha to 6t/ha of grain from their barley and wheat but average yields this year are a meagre 2t/ha to 3t/ha (0.8t/ac to 1.2t/ac).
The maize harvest has commenced much earlier than normal. It is usually not until September that maize is harvested but farmers are trying to salvage crops this year.
Farmers would normally expect maize to yield 35t/ha but crops this year are coming in at around 20t/ha.
But the quality is worse than the yield. The energy in maize comes from the cob, but in the maize fields we visited, the cobs are barely visible and the stalks are on average about 5ft high, when they would normally be 8ft or 10ft high.
The feeding value of this maize will be poor and disastrous for dairy and livestock farmers relying on the crop to feed herds that are housed all year round.
In the maize fields we visited, the cobs are barely visible.
Some farmers are fortunate to have reserves left over from a bumper year last year, but in most cases cows will have to be culled and extra grain fed. Maize without the cob is just a high-fibre feed with no energy.
Galway native Paul Costello has been farming in Brandenburg for years and says he has never seen it as bad.
“Usually, if there’s a bad cereal crop the maize is good and vice versa. But this year both crops are terrible and farmers in this area are really depressed,” Paul says.
The German government recently announced a €340m support scheme but farmers the Irish Farmers Journal spoke to are reticent about how effective it will be.
To claim the fund, they must demonstrate that they suffered crop losses in excess of 30% of normal. But this means their fertiliser allowance will be less in 2019 as farmers are only allowed to spread fertiliser based on yield. Some farmers will rather forego support now in order to ensure they can spread fertiliser crop requirements next year.
The stalks are on average about 5ft high, when they would normally be 8ft or 10ft high.
Speaking to a contractor who has six maize harvesting outfits, he says that maize is a disaster right across the region with some crops barely 2ft high.
He operates out of the Magdeborg region, which is about 50 miles from Brandenburg and renowned as some of the best farmland in Germany, but he says crops there are very badly affected.
Worst effects
The worst effects of the drought are in northern Germany. It also stretches west through the Netherlands and north into Scandinavia. These are all strong dairy regions so it will be interesting to see what effect it will have on milk supply.
While many farms will have stocks of feed left over from last year, and have alternative feeds to use, the poor maize crop will lead to more concentrates being fed and lower milk yield.
However, the maize crops look to be very good when you travel about two hours south of Berlin. In southern Germany and Austria, the maize is over 12ft tall with multiple cobs per plant. Like in Ireland, the effect of the drought is regional.
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Farmers in northern Germany are reeling from the worst drought in living memory. The Irish Farmers Journal travelled to Brandenburg, near Berlin, in northeast Germany last week to see the damage to crops and the effect on farmers.
In 2018, there was 620mm of rain in Brandenburg. This year to date, almost nine months into the year, there has only been 192mm.
Three seasons have been affected. The spring was cold – much colder than normal with frosts of -60C in early April. This delayed sowing and germination of crops.
May was dry and warm, and the summer has been hot and dry since, so late-sown crops never got a chance to grow well.
Now farmers are worried about next year’s crop as the land is too dry to sow winter crops. Normally most farmers in the area would have sown winter oilseed rape but very little has been sown to date because land is too dry.
Soil type in this region is predominantly free-draining and sandy, although there are some peaty soils and crops here have done a lot better, but these fields are normally used for grass.
The cereal harvest is complete and yields are way back. In a normal year, farmers would expect to get 5t/ha to 6t/ha of grain from their barley and wheat but average yields this year are a meagre 2t/ha to 3t/ha (0.8t/ac to 1.2t/ac).
The maize harvest has commenced much earlier than normal. It is usually not until September that maize is harvested but farmers are trying to salvage crops this year.
Farmers would normally expect maize to yield 35t/ha but crops this year are coming in at around 20t/ha.
But the quality is worse than the yield. The energy in maize comes from the cob, but in the maize fields we visited, the cobs are barely visible and the stalks are on average about 5ft high, when they would normally be 8ft or 10ft high.
The feeding value of this maize will be poor and disastrous for dairy and livestock farmers relying on the crop to feed herds that are housed all year round.
In the maize fields we visited, the cobs are barely visible.
Some farmers are fortunate to have reserves left over from a bumper year last year, but in most cases cows will have to be culled and extra grain fed. Maize without the cob is just a high-fibre feed with no energy.
Galway native Paul Costello has been farming in Brandenburg for years and says he has never seen it as bad.
“Usually, if there’s a bad cereal crop the maize is good and vice versa. But this year both crops are terrible and farmers in this area are really depressed,” Paul says.
The German government recently announced a €340m support scheme but farmers the Irish Farmers Journal spoke to are reticent about how effective it will be.
To claim the fund, they must demonstrate that they suffered crop losses in excess of 30% of normal. But this means their fertiliser allowance will be less in 2019 as farmers are only allowed to spread fertiliser based on yield. Some farmers will rather forego support now in order to ensure they can spread fertiliser crop requirements next year.
The stalks are on average about 5ft high, when they would normally be 8ft or 10ft high.
Speaking to a contractor who has six maize harvesting outfits, he says that maize is a disaster right across the region with some crops barely 2ft high.
He operates out of the Magdeborg region, which is about 50 miles from Brandenburg and renowned as some of the best farmland in Germany, but he says crops there are very badly affected.
Worst effects
The worst effects of the drought are in northern Germany. It also stretches west through the Netherlands and north into Scandinavia. These are all strong dairy regions so it will be interesting to see what effect it will have on milk supply.
While many farms will have stocks of feed left over from last year, and have alternative feeds to use, the poor maize crop will lead to more concentrates being fed and lower milk yield.
However, the maize crops look to be very good when you travel about two hours south of Berlin. In southern Germany and Austria, the maize is over 12ft tall with multiple cobs per plant. Like in Ireland, the effect of the drought is regional.
Read more
Dairy commodity prices remain steady across Europe
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