The spring was cold, the summer was rainy and the soil was far too wet: the wheat harvest in the district was delayed by a few weeks this year.
But BBV district chairman Simon Sedlmair does not want to speak of a bad year despite the loss of quality.
Because: The grain prices are "overall good".
And thanks to the rain, the forests even have a “peak year”.
Dachau - Last year, farmers groaned under drought and heat.
This year, the opposite was the case: after a spring that was much too cold and a rainy summer, the fields were flooded in many places.
Driving across the fields with heavy equipment to harvest the grain was therefore not possible for a long time.
The result, according to Seimon Sedlmair, district chairman in the Bavarian Farmers' Association (BBV): “Some of the wheat was overripe.
When it wasn't raining, we only had two or three days to harvest.
It was an extreme challenge. "Some fields, reports the farmer from Puchschlag," were "not drivable at all because of the wetness".
All in all, "it was already a circus this year".
Probably not the best quality everywhere
Because, of course, anyone who drives a combine harvester that weighs tons over a wet field runs the risk of damaging the ground.
In this respect, the farmers in the district would have preferred to wait as long as possible with the harvest and accept possible quality losses.
“We will probably not get A quality everywhere this year,” admits Sedlmair.
On the other hand, he also emphasizes that agriculture in the Dachau district was still lucky this year.
Because: "Unlike in the Starnberg district, for example, there were no storms here." That entire fields were hailed practically never happened around Dachau.
And the second piece of good news that Sedlmair has given us, despite the challenges posed by the late harvest - this year the maize will not be brought in until mid-October at the earliest - is the price trend.
The prices for grain are "overall good", for rapeseed even "extremely good".
Unlike the grain and the soil, this year's weather was a blessing for the forests, as Sedlmair emphasizes: "The forest had a great year!" Spruce and deciduous trees had suffered extremely from the lack of water in previous years and were weakened.
Forest owners could therefore breathe a sigh of relief this year, according to Sedlmair, “everything is in the green again”.
Potato farmers complain about late blight
On the other hand, those who suffered a lot from the cool and damp weather were the potato farmers. The heavy rain has favored the so-called late blight "extremely". This fungal disease ensures that the foliage first dies and then the tubers are attacked and inedible. If the rot is noticed in good time, conventional agriculture uses appropriate pesticides. According to Sedlmair, however, the organic sector is only allowed to use copper as the only effective agent against the fungus. However, since the rain strongly affects the effectiveness of the copper, the yields of the organic potato farmers are likely to “go extremely down”, according to the BBV district chairman.
All in all, Sedlmair, who was elected the successor to long-time BBV district chairman Anton Kreitmair (†) last November, calls the year 2021 “a challenge”. After the drought last year and continuous rain this year, he would finally wish for a bit of normalcy again - not only for agriculture.
