About the future of cereal production in the light of the past
The agricultural professionals almost all agree that the agricultural-ecological conditions of Hungary provide good opportunities for cereal production. Practice has proved the same for decades because the production area rate of cereal varieties is continuously over 60%. So Hungary is sentenced for cereal production.
By its importance our most significant cereal is wheat. The mainly dry, continental climate of Hungary helps realizing the excellent quality of the varieties. This is available only if the production is in the hands of well-trained professionals, the harmonic nutrient supply is provided for the vegetation and the modern chemical protection and many other elements of the agricultural technology are applied in time.
There are traditions to build on. I think that the nimb of the Hungarian wheat is unquestioned, even if there were ages when we had disadvantageous market position because of quality loss but this was always caused by human factors.
The good reputation of the Hungarian wheat and bread is several hundred years old. According to a contemporary report an English doctor and traveller wrote the following about the Hungarian bread to his compatriots in 1686: 'Their bread surpasses anything else. If you want to bake something like this, knead and process the batter thoroughly to make it loose, healthy and tasty.' Probably the English traveller when advising these did not know that the substance of the outstanding quality is the Hungarian soil, the Carpathian-basin that is excellent for wheat production. In the rainy Great-Britain the quality of the wheat did not allow the production of such bread. Foreign countries appreciated that the good quality of the Hungarian wheat is unique. The spreading of the railway lines made possible the larger volume of wheat export in the middle of the XIX century. The good reputation of the Hungarian wheat was furtherly improved by the Pesti Rolling Mill built in 1839 because it worked with unique technology more efficient than any other foreign mills. The production of the quality flour was also important because in that time the North-American wheat appeared on the market has always been the ultimate rival of the Hungarian wheat.
Wheat has become the main character of the market so the demand/supply, the competition required the quality analysis of wheat and flour.
The professionals responsible for the Hungarian wheat knew that competing the American wheat is possible only if high volume and uniform quality wheat is produced. For the achievement of this goal the quality had to be measured, simply and quickly if possible. In the beginning flour was classified according to its colour. To evaluate the gluten content puff roll-out test were made in the beginning of the 1900's.
The real improvement was the introduction of pharinograph developed by Hankóczy Jenő and produced by Germany in the 1920's. This measurement method is worldwide spread and is still in application to evaluate baking quality. The devotion of Hankóczy in the more and more objective demonstration of quality is clearly seen that he described first the alveograph test applied in the French interested markets. His ideas were used during the development of the extensograph applied in Western-Europe (and already in Hungary). In the Western-European export these latter two tests are required by the customers more and more frequently. The irony of fate that many growers think that these quality requirements are not more than tricks, that the foreign customers only make the quality performance more difficult by these, however these measurements were developed by a Hungarian inventor.
In the Hungarian crop production in the first part of the XX century we could improve and use good quality, steely structure varieties like the 'Bánkúti' varieties, the 'Fleischmann 481', later the 'Bezosztaja 1', that were used by the growers until the first part of the 1970's. When the use of the soft grain varieties from the West- and South-Europe has begun the quality has seriously changed - mainly decreased. That time the market, especially the East-European accepted such quality and the highly sophisticated and high productivity domestic live-stock farming consumed wheat.
Fortunately the Hungarian variety improvers realized in time that the competitiveness of our country can only be improved by restoring the quality of the Hungarian wheat, producing hard kernel and good baking quality varieties. This goal was achieved but with unreasonable high variety volume. By the application of proper or high quality technology the domestic varieties provide significantly better quality than the Western-European wheat. However the quality of the American varieties is not reached because of objective reasons, they are capable to replace a certain part of them on the EU market.
It is unavoidable to improve the quality level of our wheat production because the yield is still low that is mainly caused by the insufficient fertilization practice.
In the gate of the EU it is reasonable to compare our average yield with the EU countries.
Unfortunately our lag is significant comparing the main wheat producing countries yet I think that we do not have to target the 7 t/ha level but the more really achievable 5t/ha with outstanding quality. The good quality wheat is not only export product but is also required by the domestic users because supplying bakery demands is possible only with uniform and good quality row material. The homogenising the heterogeneous flours with complementary materials can not be a goal.
Regarding its importance corn is at the second place in Hungary. We made a comparison of yield similar to wheat. Concerning corn the difference is even greater for the advantage of the EU. In the average of season 2000 we have 3 tons less yield per hectares. It is a rational aim to reduce the difference in a short time and produce 6-7 t/ha average yield nationally within several years. Even with the lower yield approximately 2 million tons of extra volume is produced for export in a medium season. With this amount we are the 4th among the exporters (after the USA, Argentina and China).
We have great opportunities because within the current members of the EU in 5 countries there is no corn production at all, although in 4 countries corn is produced on less than 100.000 hectares. The currently accessing countries do not feature significant corn production for objective reasons. The opportunity and the task is given: we have to produce corn for the EU. We could double the current 1-2 million export volume by improving yield. The solution is to improve the level of agricultural technology. The most important task is to increase the fertilizer application on economic base. Our defects are obvious: in the beginning of the 1980's the compound fertilizer consumption was 282kg/ha, in the beginning of the 2000's it was only 72 kg/ha. The reduction became dramatic from the beginning of the 1990's. On the poorly fertilized soils the potential productivity of the high genetic and financial value varieties and hybrids can not be realized. Of course the break out point is not only the rationalization of the fertilizer use but also the full application of the elements of the agricultural technology. The state of the art chemical control and crop rotation may be determinant concerning yield increase because of the spreading of the western corn rootworm. The improvement of the production level can be assisted by the field-based subsidiary only if it gets directly to the grower.
We have real chance to get amongst the countries of the EU with advanced agriculture because of our good geographical, ecological conditions, a thousand years old love of the field, excellent innovative skills that has been proven for both Europe and the whole world. In the increasing competition only those growers stay up who produce excellent quality in high amount and economically. The state of the art science, genetics and technology are useless if the financial and human conditions of the application of the sophisticated agriculture are not given.
We have to mind that some nations have become great starting almost from the bottom. Japan has become great in the electronics industry. Imagine what they could achieve in cereal production if they had the conditions same as ours.
We have no other possibility we can have no other goal than to successfully us.
Dr. László Marton
Contractual Production and Crop Trade Manager
