Crop Production

How the autumn developed is influencing spring fertilization

 Participants, from 7 nations search the new Rapeseed champion

Rapeseed present in the last years an outstanding success story. 2014 reached the EU rapeseed production their last peak with 24.2 Mill. tons. The farmers made a huge profit with the yellow flowering crop but based on several factors rapeseed become under pressure in the lastyears and reached less than 18 Mill. tons in 2018/2019. How can we pass the current valley?

At the moment, the question of whether the cultivation of rapeseed still turns out to be profitable is being intensely discussed in many cropping businesses, but it is precisely the current prospects for oilseed rape that do not look bad at all. In addition to the well-known strengths of rapeseed, such as the effects as a preceding crop, more stable yields and positive price trends are to be expected for 2020.

Background

Since last year, it has been too dry and hot in large parts of Germany, although at the start of May, when the oilseed rape was flowering, it was cold and frosty, which means that pod-setting suffered. Then there was the heat wave at the end of June, right in the middle of ripening. Yields have often been between 35 and 40 dt/ha, so considerably better than last year and in the range of the long-term average yield, but not the expected massive improvement. More had seemed possible.

The new Turnip Yellows Virus (TuYV) generation of Rapool enable flexible Nitrogen fertilization in spring – a sustainable solution for a better cost efficiency in rapeseed?