Posted on August, 8, 2024 at 10:09 am
While grain is ripe for harvesting on Estonian fields, rainy weather has complicated matters for farmers. Some Southern Estonian fields are covered in water, which is impacting yields and quality.
Tõnis Soopalu, a grain farmer in Jõgeva County, told "Aktuaalne kaamera" that this summer is unique because winter wheat, winter rapeseed and even late spring barley all ripened simultaneously. Unfortunately, the weather has not been favorable for harvesting.
"In reality, today is the first proper harvest day with wind and sun, which all farmers have been waiting for. Now it's a rush to harvest everything possible. I understand that rain is expected again on Saturday, and the same problems will start all over," Soopalu said.
So far, Soopalu has harvested about a quarter of his entire area. In addition to the rain, the yield was affected by a severe drought at the beginning of the summer, which also brought unprecedented insect damage.
"My winter rapeseed is a complete disappointment – the insects ate it, and the drought did its part. Luckily, winter wheat has saved something. But now I still need to harvest the peas, which have fallen over. They need to be scraped off the ground. Once the winter wheat and peas are collected, I can assess what kind of year it has been. At this point, it's looking to be worse than average," Soopalu explained.
The situation is even worse in Võru and Põlva counties, where many fields are either very soft or completely flooded due to the rain.
"When the heavy rain came a couple of weeks ago, it made harvesting very difficult and slow, and in some places, it came to a halt. Today it's surprising that we could even get out onto the field," said Taavi Serv, a grain grower from Võru County.
According to Serv, the harvest likely won't be completely lost, but the volumes are smaller, and grain grown for food will have to be used for animal feed instead.
"The quality has decreased; it can no longer be used for food, only for feed. Moreover, if there were previously about five to six tons of grain per hectare, some of those kilograms are already lost," he said.
Source: News