why the corn harvest is late but shows promise

Fog to cut with a knife and a combine harvester that swallows up kilometers of corn furrows on a 14 hectare plot located in Eyres-Moncube. For Rémi Deyres, although a young 21-year-old farmer, the harvests “follow one another and are not the same”.

Last year, he finished harvesting his corn on October 10, with 800 tonnes harvested for an area of ​​83 hectares. This year, the harvest began on September 20, and as of the evening of October 23, there were still 40 hectares of corn left to harvest out of the 90 hectares sown this year.

“In 2023, at this time, I had already sown the plant cover, an intercrop that is sown between two corn mixed with several species: fava bean, mustard, vetch, Chinese radish,” explains the farmer. This system provides the soil with nitrogen, necessary for the development of corn. A beneficial practice since the soils “are easier to work and we use less fertilizer”.

A beneficial impact too

The main element which explains this delay in harvests can be summed up in three words: rainy weather. “To date, we have already received 150 millimeters more rain compared to a so-called normal year, and there are still two months to go,” underlines Rémi Deyres, associated with his uncle, Olivier.

For this 2024 harvest, it is therefore a question of making the most of the days without rain to move forward as much as possible, while dealing with soggy soils. “Today we managed to work with the trailer. I hope to finish the harvest before the end of the month. The last corn was sown on May 24, 2024.” If the rain weighs on the harvest calendar, it also has a beneficial impact for the farmer: “We have a better yield for this year; between 10 and 15 tonnes per hectare when last year this figure was between 8 and 13.5 tonnes per hectare. »

The advantage of the cooperative

In around eight hours, the combine harvester and its eight-row picker reached the end of the 14 hectares of the plot located in Eyres-Moncube. If agricultural operations tend to become larger and larger, the young man can count on the cooperative for the use of agricultural equipment to use the machines necessary for his activity. “Till work, spraying, fertilizer spreading, sowing: everything is done with shared equipment from Cuma du Laudon. »

Bruno, the combine harvester driver, follows Rémi Deyres at the wheel of his support vehicle, heading towards the neighboring town of Sainte-Colombe. “Here, we are on a plot of just over 1 hectare. My great-grandfather already sowed corn there,” says the farmer.

Next door is the family farm, near which he grew up. “I drove my first tractor alone at the age of 13,” he recalls. If the young farmer shows a certain attachment to the territory and the profession, he does not forget to mention that it is also very important for him to free up time. “I have the chance to work with my uncle, so I am able to take time for myself. » But that will only be after the end of the corn harvest.

A promising harvest

“Despite the bad weather conditions in spring, the corn harvest looks promising this year,” announces the Maïsadour group and should reach a total volume of “530,000 tonnes”. Started in mid-September, the harvests will be spread over the months of October and November and could go until December for certain late-growing areas. As of Monday October 28, 40% of the group's entire collection had been completed. For the 2022-2023 financial year, the Maïsadour group recorded a turnover of 1.465 billion euros, an increase compared to the previous financial year.