The sowing of the corn campaign in Spain is about to begin and there are several keys that will define the profitability of this year’s harvest. For this reason, the magazine Land Agriculturehead of Interempresas Media, and the company Mirat Fertilizers (Mirat Group) organize the eighth edition of the ‘Corn Costs and Efficiency’ Conference on Wednesday, February 8th. An appointment that has become essential in the calendar of technical conferences on this crop in Spain and that, one more year, will once again bring together some of the greatest experts in the field at a national level. The ‘La Hacienda’ complex located in the town of La Baeza (León) once again hosts the day in one of the most important maize-growing areas in Spain in terms of surface area and productivity.
Under the slogan ‘Campaign 2023: Profitability as the only objective’, this year’s edition aims to analyze the factors that are influencing the current situation of corn cultivation. The turn of the screw that the increase in costs has meant that producers must be even more efficient so that the crop continues to be a profitable option in the context of the new CAP. Aspects such as the new varieties, the application of digital agriculture, the rationalization of the use of fertilizers or the dynamics of the market are some of the critical points in the new campaign.
‘The challenges of the corn campaign in Spain’ is the title of the inaugural speech that José Luis Romeo, president of the General Association of Corn Producers of Spain (AGPME). The objective of this talk is to put the current campaign in context and delve into the variables that are going to influence both the productivity and the final profitability of the crop this year.
To address the advances in precision agriculture applied to corn, David Castrillo, a field technician from the Leonese cooperative COGAL, talk about the experiences of farmers in managing the crop. Specifically, the exhibition will revolve around practices related to the variable dosage of inputs such as seeds, phytosanitary products or fertilizers, as well as the first advances in the application of variable irrigation.
Next, José Miguel Villa, technical manager of seeds of the company Pioneer (Corteva Agriscience). The company’s expert will focus on the new generation of maize hybrids tolerant to water stress in the AQUAmax range. The details of how these varieties are obtained and the experiences in the field to evaluate their behavior in drought conditions will be disclosed.
In the field of health, the day has the participation of the company Sipcam Iberia. Patricia de Blas, Field Marketing delegate in the northwest area of Sipcam, will influence the development of new strategies to increase the profitability of corn and crop protection against new threats.
Another of the fundamental work areas in this crop is fertilization. The increase in costs related to fertilizing corn requires a change in the strategy when it comes to providing nutrients to the plant. In this sense, the company Mirat, co-organizer of the conference, will be represented by Luis Ángel López, agronomic director of the company based in Salamanca and an expert with a long history in the sector who will provide a series of recommendations to efficiently fertilize the corn.
To round off the event, Ivn Álvarez, partner and director of the consultancy Asegrainwill take an x-ray of the current situation of the raw material market at an international level and will try to resolve the question as to whether corn will be able to maintain the current price level -above 300 euros per ton- in the coming months.
