Bad weather causes 20% of grain harvest to be rejected due to poor quality

High temperatures, humidity and frequent rainfalls have caused a poor quality harvest this year, with estimated losses of half a million tons. However the loss in quantity is not as serious as the loss in quality. The crops will be contaminated to a much greater scale than ever before and will be of a lower gluten content, resulting in poor flour quality. A large part of this year's harvest will not fulfill consumption requirements and will be used as animal feed. The price of one ton of consumable wheat and rye is zl.510 plus a zl.90 contribution from the Agricultural Market Agency (ARR), whereas feed rye has been priced at around zl.310. Traders estimated that the ARR bought some 190,000 tons of grain last week, but rejected as much as 20% of farmers' offers because of poor quality. (Reuters; Gazeta Wyborcza, p.16) A.K.