News soybean cultivation
High demand for Dutch soybean
Soybean cultivation in Flevoland will be scaled up in the coming period. With the start of FlevoVerseSoja, the first seed for the cultivation of 40 to 50 hectares of soybeans was distributed. This meets a growing demand from the market. What does this promise for the expansion of cultivation in the Netherlands?
The initiative aims to encourage farmers to grow soy; this concerns fresh soy and not dry soy. Fresh soybeans are grown for human consumption. The advantage of this is that fresh soy can be harvested as early as August, while dry soy is only harvested in October. This in turn offers various cultivation advantages. Ten Flevoland farmers are participating in the initiative, with 10% of the acreage being grown organically.
Valuable addition
The question is whether soybean cultivation is a valuable addition to the crop plan for arable farmers. Jan Nico Appelman, deputy for the province of Flevoland, thinks the answer is 'yes'. "The ability to grow this product makes agriculture more agile and opens up new markets. It is an opportunity to broaden the construction plan." The province does not pay growers any subsidies, which means that they have to obtain the financial yield from the market themselves.
Geert Peek, account manager at Green Organics, says that this is quite possible. The company sells these cultivated soybeans in the Flevopolder. In addition, the company purchases the soybeans and also takes care of the processing (together with a processor in the south of the country). Part of the product goes into the fresh market, another part is for the frozen market.
High demand for soybeans
The company sees an opportunity for the sale of the product because there is a lot of demand. "We have several customers who are seriously interested in this product," says Peek. When asked how much the arable farmers pay for the product, Peek states that it is competitive with other crops. "You have to think of balances like those for canned crops. However, this cultivation is more for the diversity in the crop plan than for the balance."
Jeroen Willemsen, who claims to be the protein commissioner of the Netherlands and owner of Food For Impact, states that the demand for fresh soy has increased fivefold in the past 3 years. "In the meantime, about 300 tons of soybeans are sold per year in Dutch supermarkets. However, this mainly comes from Asian countries. Soy from the Netherlands is very interesting for supermarkets, partly because it fits in well with the pursuit of more local products. It remains to be seen which supermarket will be the first to have the product on the shelves."
Elsewhere in the Netherlands also possibilities
"With this project, the province of Flevoland shows that it is possible to grow and sell soybeans in the Netherlands. The land is expensive here. In short: if it works here, it can also be done elsewhere in the Netherlands. This project is a translation to greater scale of the small-scale initiatives that were developed earlier," says Willemsen.
Ton Kempenaar, the director of the agricultural company of Aeres Hogeschool in Dronten, states that these soybeans are easy to grow. The crop is interesting to him because sales are arranged together with buyers. "You have more control over sales with the cultivation of fresh soybeans than when you grow dry soybeans for animal feed. Together with the buyers, we will work on the further development of this market. A buyer such as GreenOrganics does not just cooperate. to buy yourself as cheaply as possible."
Cultivation is beneficial for soil
In addition, it is an advantage that no nitrogen fertilization is required for this cultivation. Soybeans are leguminous. "However, bacteria must be added in order for the process of nitrogen production via the plant to work properly." According to a participating arable farmer, the availability of threshers can become a bottleneck. There are only 2 in the Netherlands that can harvest this crop well, while the harvesting moment for fresh soybeans is precise.
Anne-Jan Doorn
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