After experiencing the worst campaign in the last 20 years due to drought, the winter cereal sector begins a new season that is expected to be "very tough" if rainfall does not arrive. In the absence of rain, farmers in the Pla d'Urgell plain will stop sowing between 50% and 70% of hectares because the land does not meet the optimal conditions for the seed to germinate. Although most farmers prefer to wait with their eyes fixed on the sky, the other option on the table is to change the crop from wheat to barley. However, more than 90% of hectares destined for wheat have been planted in dryland areas. Likewise, the drought adds to the ravages of wildlife, such as rabbits, which eat the grain that is already buried.
In mid-November of a year without drought, farmers in the irrigated area would have already planted wheat on 80% or 90% of the hectares destined for this product. However, today farmers have planted between 30% and 40% of the land due to lack of water.
Although most of the sector remains waiting for rainfall to guarantee water for their wheat crops, making a change and betting on planting barley starting in December is also one of the producers' alternatives.
Those who did sow did so "by inertia" and not on the entire land, according to the head of herbaceous and forage crops at the FCAC, Santi Vergé, who adds that they did so by applying organic fertilization instead of mineral fertilization.
Likewise, Vergé explained that planting winter cereals serves as a "catch-all" for many farmers to ensure at least one harvest in the event that they will not have enough water to irrigate in the summer.
Regarding dryland areas, the planting season begins on October 12 with the arrival of autumn rains. This year, farmers have taken advantage of the humidity from some rain showers to plant 90% of the hectares of wheat and some of barley. Although in some areas the birth "is good", according to Vergé, in the most arid dry lands such as those of Baix Segre, the seed "is suffering."
The lack of water causes a lack of food for the rabbits, which go out to look for it on the little planted land. "They eat the grain that is buried in the ground," says Vergé, convinced that "the rabbit plague persists." Faced with this scenario and after compensation for wildlife has been raised, Agroseguro has increased the price of the premiums. Something that Vergés regrets, since he considers that "a reasonable increase would be up to 10% and not between 60% and 70%."
"Bad productions, low prices and problems with wild fauna. When agriculture depends on many factors that it cannot assume, cultivation will stop in the territory," concludes Vergé.
