Crop report spurs fears for UK wheat prospects

Adas enhanced fears for the UK wheat harvest by saying that wet conditions had prevented farmers from a late catch-up on winter sowings, and raising its estimate of the proportion of the crop at risk. The consultancy, which in November cautioned that growers had been able to plant only 25 percent of winter wheat thanks to persistent damp, said that there had been “no significant drilling” since because of further rains. Rainfall between September and February averaged 50 percent higher than normal. “A few [farmers] have tried broadcasting and others have drilled in the frost, but over all there has been little increase in the area of winter wheat drilled since November,” Adas said, in comments released minutes after European Commission grain officials cautioned over “excessive precipitation” in the UK.

‘Very poor growth’
Much of what has been planted as struggled with slugs encouraged by the wet conditions, and with high soil water levels, besides compaction from what fieldwork has been done. “Saturated soils reduce oxygen availability for the roots, resulting in some very poor growth on the wettest fields, especially on heavier ground,” Adas said. “Of the [wheat] crops that have been drilled many have struggled to establish in cold, wet soils resulting in low plant populations with reduced levels of tillering.” Read more...