Egebjerggaard delivered the season's first load of rapeseed to Emmelev A/S and was pleased with the solid yields, considering the nature of the growing season.
The first rapeseed was harvested yesterday at Egebjerggaard in Nordfyn, making the farrm the first this year to deliver a load of freshly harvested rapeseed straight from the field to Emmelev A/S in Otterup.
This tookplace on Tuesday, July 21, when agricultural trainee, Simon, rolled onto Emmelev’s weighbridge driving a Fendt 728 tractor pulling an Annaburger transport trailer.
For Manager Alexander Deigaard Petersen, it was a positive experience. Egebjerggaard has300 hectares of rapeseed this year, and completing the harvest requires careful planning. Consequently, 100 hectares were swathed last week to stagger the harvest. After the swathed crop, Egebjerggaard moves on to the early varieties followed by the later ones, ensuring the workload is distributed effectively.
AlexanderDeigaard Petersen reports a moisture content of just under nine percent and yields that—given the growing season—were surprisingly good.
"When we consider that we’ve recently had a mix of rain, sun, and quite a bit of wind, the rapeseed has actually progressed very well and rapidly. We’ve also had a growing season marked by two spells of drought and extreme heat, so weare incredibly pleased with these initial results," says Alexander Deigaard Petersen.
Egebjerggaard has brought farming operations back in-house after leasing out the fields for a number of years, a move that has entailed investments in both new and high-quality used machinery. The rapeseed was harvested using a Claas Lexion 8800 equipped with a 15-foot pickup header, and the setup performed exceptionally well.
Plans are in place to halve the rapeseed acreage at Egebjerggaard for the upcoming growing season:
"We are facing new nitrogen regulations with a mix of uncertainty and bewilderment; the outcome remains unknown because the figures keep changing. We crunched the initial numbers and had a plan ready, only to receive new figures—and then yet more new figures. It is truly incredible that an industry of such significance in Denmark can be treated this way. After all, we are due to start sowing rapeseed in just a fortnight," says Alexander Deigaard Petersen.
