Sweet corn is one of the most important field vegetable crops in Hungary, which is grown worldwide on an area of 350-400 thousand hectares. Its sown area in Hungary was about 20-30 thousand hectares in the early 2000s, in 2015 it reached 30 thousand hectares, and in 2017 it reached 35 thousand ha, which shows the importance of the crop and its profitability. With this relatively high area ratio, Hungary currently occupies the 1st place in the European Union in terms of the volume of cultivation.

The average domestic production is slightly below the French average, ranging from 13 to 16 tonnes per hectare in recent years. In terms of exports of processed sweet corn, Hungary is the world leader, ahead of the USA. This is shown by the continuously increasing trend of the volume of our exports, as in 2010 we delivered only 65,000 tonnes of frozen and 141,000 tonnes of canned goods, but in 2016, due to continuous growth, we delivered 74,000 tonnes of frozen and 180,000 tonnes of canned sweetcorn to foreign markets. Based on this, there is a huge opportunity in Hungarian sweetcorn growing, as we use only a fraction of the potential (30-35 thousand hectares), and even with such utilization, we are the world’s leading exporter. With increased adherence to cultivation discipline, increased agrotechnical control against drought damage, as well as domestic breeding work with already developed foundations, crop stability and achievable yield can also be increased. Therefore, in order to maintain / increase competitiveness, modern variety use, expand investments in technology and irrigation, transfer knowledge and research results, encourage long-term, multi-year market relations, and promote market transparency will also be important in the future.

The effects of climate change are now increasingly felt in Hungary. Extremely dry summer and mild, almost spring like winters have alternated in recent years. The yield fluctuation between individual years ranges from 20 to 30%, which does not benefit either the producer or the purchaser, and thus market disturbances and increasing raw material prices can be expected in the long run, as the effects of climate change affect the agricultural sector, including crop production as a whole. They also influence sowing and harvesting dates, as well as the quantity and quality of the harvested crop. In addition, farmers have an increasingly small time frame to sow their arable crops on time. The success of crop production is influenced by many factors and external influences, which the grower has little or no influence on. Therefore, farmers must intervene where they can, and they can do so by improving crop management technology. This allows them to rationalise their production costs and adapt better to growing conditions. One of these problems is the correct choice of time and method of basic tillage, as this can promote structure-aiding and soil-moisture-preserving cultivation. This is where support from agricultural equipment companies can come handy, who have recognised the problem and started research and development work in this area. As a result, several new generation basic tillage methods and tools (strip tillage, ploughing closure connected elements, etc.) have come to light, which are already being used in practice with great success. Due to the traditions of sweetcorn growing and processing and the favourable agroecological conditions of Hungary, it is necessary to develop the crop management programme of sweet corn field production, aiming to increase the achievable yield and to examine the cultivability of chemical-residue-free, organic sweet corn. Based on these, the project studied the cultivation methods of one of the most important. Hungarian field vegetable crops, sweet corn (as secondary sowing after winter barley) (after main sown winter barley with: 1. closed ploughing, 2. closed field heavy cultivator, 3. sealed soil loosener; in addition, before the second sowing: 4th strip tillage (strip-drill; cultivation and sowing in one go).

Our aim was to compare those listed above and irrigation parameters in the case of conventional and organic sweet corn. In foreign research, the cultivation of second-crop sweet corn is often examined, since in this case two crops can be harvested from the same area within a calendar year. Few of the research studies already carried out examine the basic cultivation methods of the main crop and secondary sweetcorn and the effect of irrigation in a way that focuses on yield and crop safety. The innovative crop management programme solutions created during the project are as follows: Proposal of the main and direct basic tillage technology adapted to the production and location of secondary sweetcorn.

Based on the basic tillage, the vintage and the site-specific region-specific planning of irrigation time and the amount of water applied can be planned with high precision. In addition to comparing basic tillage and irrigation, the project also aims to produce healthy, chemical-free food by comparing conventional and organic sweet corn varieties.

Hungary, Hajdú-Bihar and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg counties

Discovery Center | Gödöllő

Rural Development Program
Own resources

Art- Farm Kft. | Farmer
IRRIFARM Kft. | Farmer
Korpád Kft. | Farmer
Sain Krisztián | Farmer
Szekeres Családi Mezőgazdasági Termelő és Kereskedő Kft. | Farmer
Dr. Balla István | Consultant

620 875 eFt

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