Sowing works are progressing well

The first quarter of this year brought a mild, restrained winter in terms of precipitation. In this mild weather, the autumn sowings did not suffer from frost damage – Imre Rácz began his assessment of the situation of the autumn sowing and spring field work.

Increasing water shortage

According to the county president of the National Chamber of Agrarian Economy, winter and early spring brought between 60-100 millimeters of rainfall, as a result of which the lower, 50-100 centimeter soil layer remained saturated, but the upper 50 centimeter layer dried up to 60-70 percent. By the end of March, the water deficit increased further (we could talk about a deficit of 18-50 millimeters), which was further increased in the drier first half of April. The temperature was unusually high during this period, so nature woke up 15-20 days earlier than usual, so the “Easter summer” brought flowering forward for many plant species.

– The lilac blossomed in the first week of April, and the acacia is already blooming – said Imre Rácz. He added that there was a significant cooling in mid-April, with 6-22 millimeters of precipitation less than expected. In the last 30 days, only 18-31 millimeters fell, thanks to which the soils were in a cultivable state, but they were still far from ideal. The upper 20 centimeter soil layer was 40-50 percent, the 20-50 centimeter 55-60 percent, while the lower 50-100 centimeter was completely saturated. The soil temperature warmed up to 14-15 degrees Celsius by the beginning of April, so the farmers in most parts of the county started preparing the soil and sowing seeds.

The planned top fertilization of the autumn crops has been completed practically in the entire area of ​​the county, the amounts of fertilizer applied reflect the relatively high purchase price of nitrogen fertilizers. Weeding was somewhat limited by the strong winds during the day, but the work started in the first week of April was completed. The status of autumn-sown plants can be said to be good, and there are few stands that can be said to be weak.

Fresh seedbeds

Imre Rácz turned to the assessment of spring-sown plants. He said that the soil preparation for these types of plants is approaching sixty percent completion, and the county farmers can start sowing in the fresh seedbeds within a few days. There is a minor rearrangement in this year’s planned sowing structure (compared to last year), but the share of 140,000 hectares of corn and sunflower can be said to be relatively stable.

The county president listed: according to the sowing intentions submitted by the farmers, the sowing areas of spring barley (221 hectares), seed peas (288 hectares), oats (1502 hectares) and soybeans (959 hectares) show a 13 percent increase compared to last year. The sowing area of ​​corn (82,083 hectares) and sunflower (58,308 hectares) also shows an increase of more than three thousand hectares, this is largely due to sunflowers. The sowing works are progressing well, at the planned pace (40 percent of the work is now complete). The corn and sunflowers sown at the beginning of April are already “rowing” nicely. The cultivation area of ​​potatoes (840 hectares) has increased by ten percent compared to the area of ​​2023, but even so it does not reach the previous thousand hectares. The planned sowing area of ​​sugar beet has not changed significantly, the farmers plan to do so on 132 hectares this year. Potatoes have been planted at 73 percent, the sowing of beets has not yet started, and neither has the sowing of soybeans. 16 percent of the silage corn (3,394 hectares) is already in the ground, the sowing of the hybrid (706 hectares) has not yet started – detailed Imre Rácz.

They remain idle

Active field use shows a further decrease compared to last year. Many farmers are considering whether to satisfy the requirements of the “Conditionality” and the AÖP, and rest their less productive areas, where they already have low-profitability (possibly previously unprofitable) fields. This decision is reinforced by the high price of input materials and the falling crop prices. According to Imre Rácz’s information, approximately three and a half thousand hectares of land in our county will actually remain fallow.

– It can be said that the state and development of the herds are promising for all landscape units of the county – the county president of the National Chamber of Agrarian Economy, Imre Rácz, concluded his evaluation.