Inside Potatoes
Can Wallonia still catch up?
The Belgian trial harvesting figures from the institutes Fiwap, Carah, PCA and Inagro show a striking picture. The sampled potato yield in Flanders and Wallonia shows 2 completely different situations. Can the French-speaking part still get along with its northern neighbors?
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Choose the subscription that suits youBetween August 12 and 14 fiwap, Carah, PCA en uneager Test harvests were again carried out in the Bintje and Fontane varieties. This concerns 28 plots with Fontane and 17 plots with Bintje. What is immediately striking is the big difference between the regions of Flanders and Wallonia. This is not noticeable at the Bintjes, but at Fontane the difference is 9 tons per hectare.
Precipitation is leading
One of the reasons for this difference of more than 25% is the earlier planting date. In Flanders, crops have almost a week more growing days. According to Pierre Lebrun, coordinator of Fiwap, the main reason is the difference in precipitation. “In Flanders it has rained 2 or 3 times more often and that makes the difference,” he explains. “Maybe we estimate the yield in Wallonia too low and too high in Flanders. Yet I believe there is a clear difference. We will not be able to fully catch up on this growth deficit in Wallonia.”
The net yield of all sizes amounts to 40 tons per hectare at Fontane. The 11 plots in Wallonia have 34 tons per hectare and the 17 in Flanders have 43 tons per hectare. The 4-year average is 36 tonnes per hectare, although it should be noted that sampling was carried out slightly earlier in previous years.
Distribution of Bintje considerably less
Bintje produces 34 tons per hectare, with a spread of only 1 ton between the two parts of Belgium. Here too, the 5-year average is 36 tons per hectare, which means that, unlike Fontane, the Bintjes are slightly below this line. With an average underwater weight of 383, the crops have reached an average stage of maturity. Fontane is higher with an OWG of 400. However, the bandwidth is large. This ranges from 318 to 436. This also applies to the yield, with a variation from 25 to 63 tons per hectare.
If we look at the graph of Fontane 35 millimeters upwards (38 tons/ha), it is visible that the 2019 season scores high. Only the 2016 season did slightly better. However, the number of growing days in the 2019 season is also relatively high compared to previous seasons. The question is therefore how long the trend will continue, especially given the state of the crops. Fiwap therefore does not count on top yields, as it writes in their newsletter.
No precipitation coming
Rain has fallen everywhere in Belgium last week. However, the amount is very distributed, ranging from 15 millimeters to a maximum of 40 millimeters. “It was beautiful rain, which fell evenly,” said Lebrun. “We see in the field that only the outer 5 to 10 centimeters of the ridge is moist. The potato remains dry. So the question is what effect this will have on growth.”
The temperature in Belgium will rise again this week to 30 degrees at the weekend. The summer weather remains warm in the last week of August, up to a maximum of 25 degrees. Precipitation is not expected at this time.
Aviko is also following the 2016 line
The trial harvest figures of Aviko Potato also shadows the growth curve of the 2016 season and to a slightly lesser extent 2015. At the fourth sample point, the gross yield rises 40 millimeters to approximately 48 tons per hectare. The percentage of 50 millimeters upwards is just above the 2016 line and follows more closely in 2018. Almost 75% is now above 50 millimeters. Due to the precipitation, the owg has dropped to 365.