It is full of energy, is comparatively easy to grow and fully machine-harvested: maize is enjoying growing popularity around Holzkirchen.
Now the harvest has begun - in an area that has never been larger.
Holzkirchen
- Maize is the dominant field crop in the Miesbach district, two thirds of the field forage cultivation is accounted for by the king of arable land.
Most of the areas are in the north of the district, around Holzkirchen.
The harvest of the 2020 season began a few days ago. Chopper and loader wagons are in constant use.
"It should be done in two to three weeks", believes Elisabeth Kitzeder, responsible for crop production in the Office for Agriculture and Forests in Holzkirchen.
In the Miesbach district, the “energy giant” is now growing to 812 hectares.
A significant increase of 120 hectares compared to 2016, when 693 hectares of corn were harvested in the district.
Kitzeder suspects that stricter cultivation rules meant that farmers turned green spaces into fields in advance as a precautionary measure before this had become much more difficult the previous year.
"Permanent green areas may only be converted into arable land upon separate application," says Kitzeder.
The biggest leap was in 2008
The biggest leap in maize cultivation in the Holzkirchen region took place in 2008: At that time, the area under cultivation grew by over 100 hectares to over 600 hectares within a year.
Only a fraction of the harvest is harvested as grain maize, the majority is chopped up and stored in silos.
Silage maize is used as concentrated feed for dairy cattle and, in recent years, increasingly as a substrate for agricultural gas systems.
The maize is used here as “fuel” for small power plants that produce electricity and heat.
However, according to Kitzeder, biogas plants that intensified corn cultivation in other regions only play a subordinate role in the district.
In the district, crops are grown on 2093 hectares
The maize likes it warm and humid; late frosts or dry summers are a problem.
In addition, farmers must be careful to control weeds.
Corn is sensitive to competition.
On the arable land in the district, which total 2093 hectares, corn (812 hectares) dominates more and more clearly.