There has been significant loss of this year’s planted oilseed rape area, with large regional differences being observed, according to a farmer survey by Kleffmann Group. The Kleffmann Group panel consists of 403 UK rape growers and calculates an original planted area in autumn 2018 of 581,030 hectares of winter rape. However, 68 farmers have reported failed crops amounting to 6.28 per cent of the total original planted area. This is 36,000 hectares lost. In the 2017/18 season, the percentage loss was 1.62 per cent so autumn 2018 has been much more hostile to rape survival by a factor of nearly four times, according to the survey. Significant regional differences were also noted from the survey; Scotland, for example, had the lowest area of oilseed rape lost at just 0.91 per cent of the original planted area, closely followed by the North East region at 1.36 per cent. The South East region had the highest area of failed crop at 12.6 per cent, followed by Yorkshire and the Humber region at 9.75 per cent. Between these extremes are the remaining regions; East Midlands suffered 3.5 per cent loss, South West, 4.34 per cent, West Midlands, 5.34 per cent and Eastern region, 7.29 per cent. Agrii agronomist and farmer David Felce, who covers Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire says oilseed rape is ‘a very mixed bag’. “A lot is down to cabbage stem flea beetle, not helped by dry conditions last autumn. “Often where the crop had survived adult flea beetle damage, those crops are now showing high levels of larvae in the stem and some of those crops are looking a little ragged. If they are in the leaf petioles it is not quite so bad but if they are in the main stem – the meristem where the flower buds are forming that is of more concern.” When deciding whether to continue with an OSR crop, as well as CSFB damage there are other factors to bear in mind, says Mr Felce. “If you have also got a not particularly high plant population and black-grass and grass-weeds, the decision may be around is it worth nurturing the crop knowing you are going to struggle to control grass-weeds?” Source - https://www.fginsight.com