Grain harvest ‘catastrophically’ slow in Latvia

Due to the rainy weather, harvesting works are very slow, and last week’s progress was ‘catastrophically small’, Ģirts Ozols, head of the agricultural department of the “Latraps” producer, told LETA on August 4.

He added that if so far there were places where winter rapeseed was already being sown, then works on the fields have stopped completely under the impact of this week’s rainfall. Only 5% to 7% of grain field areas could currently be harvested.

He also said that farmers are starting to worry about the quality of the grain, but how the grains will develop in the future can no longer be affected. Also warm weather, along with the rain, aren’t favorable to the fields.

According to him, the quality of rapeseed will not be particularly affected by the current weather conditions, but the farmers are more worried about wheat. At the moment, it looks as if the quality of later varietal grains will be better.

The Chair of the Board of the Co-operative Society “Durbes grauds”, Sandra Bēča, told LETA that both harvest and sowing jobs in Kurzeme have stopped completely. She said that last week had more rain than the norm of the whole month, and that starting work on the fields needed at least a couple of days of wind and sun to dry up the fields.

At the same time, Bēča said, it was evident that some of the grain was beginning to grow dark and perish. In her opinion, if there is rainfall for another week, the quality of wheat will only be suitable for animal feed.

Tags: quality, rainy weather, harvest, grain, Grains, wheat, winter rapeseed