Agrowill Group companies kicking off harvesting works

The first decade of July usually marks the end of major field crop management works.  Later, farmers have a short holiday. Owing to a rainy and cool spring and early summer, the maturity of the main field crops is delayed by 7–10 days this summer. Crop management works were delayed by the same period of time. It looked like harvest would be delayed as well. However, hot weather brought about some changes. High air temperatures and very low relative humidity made winter rape dry off in just a week. Winter rape harvest started yet before we finished fertilising winter wheat through the leaves in order to improve the quality of grain. Winter barley harvesting has already been in progress for a week in Lithuania.
According to the first winter rape harvest data provided by agricultural companies Želsvelė and Grūduva, although the figures are not high, they are in line with our forecasts. In the beginning, the rapeseed yield was about 3 t/ha and then settled at the rate of 2.5 t/ha. Rapeseed purchase prices are high and therefore there is every likelihood that last year’s profit from winter rape will be exceeded.  We are concerned about possible seed yield losses as not all of the crops are equally mature; they have been affected by pests, diseases or weeds. According to our calculations, some 42–58 kg of rapeseed per 1 ha fell on the ground in the fields even during the first harvest. The amount of rapeseed falling on the ground is currently smaller than at the start of oilseed rape harvest in 2009 and smaller than in neighbouring farms. The more crop threshing is delayed, the greater the yield losses become. The amount of yield losses strongly depends on the ability of farm specialists to determine the optimal oilseed rape or cereal harvest time and prepare crops for harvesting. An assessment of our agricultural crops and the results of a survey of neighbouring farmers have enabled us to estimate future dates of technological maturity of cereals and oilseed rape this summer:
* winter rape: 17–25 July;
* winter triticale: 23 July – 2 August;
* winter rye: 25 July – 5 August;
* spring barley: 28 July – 5 August;
* peas: 28 July – 7 August;
* winter wheat: 28 July – 10 August;
* spring wheat: 8–15 August;
* spring rape: 12–20 August.

Thus, the great harvest time has already started or will soon start in our companies. As mentioned before, the harvest time is determined by both natural maturation time and other factors, which could be listed in the following order: 
* natural plant maturation process;
* purpose and value of the future harvest;
* pre-cropping purpose;
* minimisation of potential yield losses due to a delayed harvest;
* requirements for plant protection in crop rotation;
* organisational and economic.

Field crop harvest time is definitely mostly determined by the technological maturity of crops. Any other criteria, no matter how important they are, cannot compare to this one. The difference between the earliest and the latest maturity of field crops is 30 days. Such differences in the maturation of individual field crops are determined by their botanical characteristics. However, as we all know, the duration of maturation of different strains of the same species of plants may differ by as many as two weeks. Maturation may also be strongly influenced by climate conditions and agricultural machinery used. Therefore, various types of cereals and oilseed rape often mature at the same time. Then, choosing harvest priority, we move to the second point of the priority list, i.e. the purpose and value of a harvest.
The purpose of rapeseed and cereal grain may be very different. Their main uses include: for seed (which is divided into basic seeds and subsequent generations of seeds), for food purposes (there is a number of different requirements as well), for industrial processing and feed production. If all the criteria of purpose in question coincide, we refer to the purchase price (value) of products. In practice, our farmers give harvest priority to the crops grown for seed only.
The third harvest priority criterion is the place of a specific plant in crop rotation and its pre-cropping value. There is no doubt that, should the other criteria be the same, we will direct our combines primarily to those fields were we intend to sow winter rape or winter barley, which would be followed by  fields for growing triticale, rye and wheat. The priority sequence of harvesting of fields for spring crops is as follows: sugar beet, maize, spring wheat, spring barley, spring rape, spring triticale and oats.
The fourth point of the priority list, namely, minimisation of potential yield losses due to delayed harvest, is equally important. In our opinion, everyone would agree that different plant species and their strains may considerably differ in terms of potential yield losses due to delayed harvest. Based on this factor, the sequence of threshing of field crops would be as follows:  winter and spring barley, peas, winter and spring rape, winter rye, triticale and winter wheat. Yield losses as a result of delayed harvest also greatly depend on crop damage (diseases, pests, hail), flattening and the intensity of weed growth. Observance of the requirements set out in this point would help our companies to minimise potential yield losses. Therefore, sticking siliques with Aventrol would surely reduce the probability of bigger yield losses several times.
This year’s spring was not favourable for spraying crops with pesticides. In addition, winter crops were thinner. Therefore, a considerable part of crops was affected by weeds. Heavy rainfall in July flattened crops to a smaller or larger extent. This will result in more marked differences in their maturity. This not only poses a serious obstacle to fast and quality work of combines but also impedes preparation of soil for sowing winter crops. In our opinion, it is high time to “inventory” all oilseed rape and cereal crops according to their maturity for harvesting and take decisions, as it is not too late yet to spray weedier or more flattened crops with non-selective herbicides. By doing this, we will destroy weeds as well as gradually “dry up” cultivated plants. It has been estimated that the spraying of cereal or oilseed rape crops with herbicides 7 to 10 days before harvest increases combine productivity by 15–25% and decreases grain moisture by 2–3% compared to non-sprayed crops. An even better effect is attained after spraying seed cereal or winter rape fields with desiccant Reglon Super (2-3 l ha-1) 3-4 days before harvest. 
In order to increase fertility and improve the quality of grain, spring cereal and spring rape crops should now be fertilised through the leaves with urea solutions. Agricultural companies of Agrowill Group are planned to fertilise all spring wheat and some spring rape crops through the leaves with a 20–30 kg/ha urea solution.

V. Paltanavičius, Head of the Crop Production Services Division of Agrowill Group AB

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