Recover from Wet Conditions | Agronomy Advice

Due to weather conditions this autumn there are a lot less winter crops in the ground (mainly wheat), similar to autumn 2019.

Autumn 2019 - United Kingdom
Higher than average rainfall September - November, however more concentrated and not as widespread.

Autumn 2023 - United Kingdom
Higher than average rainfall for the first 2 months of autumn, with November yet to be added. Widespread areas of 130-170%+ rainfall with 200mm+ falling in some places in one day alone.

What did the impact of average monthly rainfall in 2019 do to crops ?

Higher than average monthly rainfall in 2019 (followed by the familiar drought conditions we see more and more in spring 2020). This led to the least amount of winter wheat drilled in the 21st century. When comparing 2019 to 2020, the area cereals remained the same but there was a swing to spring barley by +52%. There was also an increase in other spring crops such as pulses (+31%) and linseed (+120%)

From the British Survey of Fertiliser Practice (BSFP) table comparing 2019-2020, wheat area decreased from 1,808,000ha to 1,380,000ha in 2020 harvest. Spring barley increased from 698,000ha to 1,063,000ha in 2020, it is likely to be similar this coming spring. Total oilseed was also down, this will be the same this year, potentially worse levels due to CSFB. There was also an increase in land left fallow from 234,000ha to 362,000ha.

The use of fertiliser and future predictions for Spring 2024

When looking at fertiliser usage, nitrogen rates were down. Spring crops require less nitrogen therefore it is expected that this will be a similar story in spring 2024. During recent shows/events farmers were still optimistic that they would have chance to drill winter crops, thinking back to previous wet years winter crops were sown as late as January and even February. There are therefore likely to be a lot of backwards crops from late drilling.

Looking further back at 2012/13 there was a similar pattern in cropping due to the wet conditions.

Straight Nitrogen
	tillage crops	grass	all crops and grass
2009	123	28	74
2010	131	30	77
2011	132	28	77
2012	131	25	72
2013	121	28	69

Compound Nitrogen
	tillage crops	grass	all crops and grass
2009	14	29	22
2010	14	33	24
2011	14	29	22
2012	13	31	23
2013	16	31	24

Cereals that were drilled early and have potentially been sitting in waterlogged conditions will benefit from Foliar P in the spring to encourage root growth whilst soil conditions aren’t conducive for phosphate availability. Therefore it is an opportunity to implement YaraVita Crop Boost / Foliar P at T0 on all cereals.

Cold, wet or waterlogged soils mean the levels of mineralisation are likely to be very low in Spring

When there is excess water in the soil pores it means anaerobic conditions – nitrogen is lost through denitrification. When you also team this with the amount of excess rain we’ve had a lot of nitrogen that was in the soil will have been lost as well. Therefore the recent wet weather will impact significantly upon nitrogen availability come spring. It wouldn't be forseen that some growers may decide to use a urea-based products due to Ammonium Nitrate (AN) leaching potential in wet spring conditions.

Current conditions bring improved nitrogen responses

With the current conditions, this should mean we have better nitrogen responses this year due to the lack of nitrogen available from the soil. With the unknown losses / mineralisation it is an opportunity to utilise the N-Tester BT which can provide instant field-specific nitrogen recommendations.