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'Wheat is more than just a rest crop'
Although wheat cultivation is largely 'at the service' of seed potatoes, Daan Lanser in Sint Maarten (NH) is doing everything he can to achieve good yields with his wheat. In addition to a sophisticated choice of varieties and targeted fertilization, he finds complete disease control important.
In recent years - in consultation with Erik Dokter of CAV Agrotheek - he has put the means Ascra Xpro into T1. "A reliable and flexible tool that we can use under all circumstances," said both men.
It is mid-February and the thaw has set in after a very cold and snowy week. The North Holland landscape is turning green again and the yards have already largely been cleared of snow. Daan Lanser is in the shed preparing some seed potatoes for delivery in March. "Delivery is rather slow, so we have the time to sort batches into size. We are also experiencing more wireworm damage and Rhizoctonia holes this year. We can now pay some extra attention to that in the reading room." , says the young farmer as he puts his forklift truck aside.
Although he is only 21 years old, Daan has been a full-time farmer for almost 4 years. He says that his father died of cancer in 2017, which meant that he had to work much younger than originally planned. Nevertheless, together with his mother Denise - who, among other things, does the administration, 'manns' the reading room and carries out a considerable number of hand and span services at the company - he has managed to keep the company well on track and he is determined to to be further developed. "The past few years have been quite difficult and sad. But we got through it with the help of family, neighbors and colleagues. It's nice to see that you can count on people," he says during a round of sanding. He also refers to Erik Dokter, who has been associated with the company as a consultant for many years and is also present at the meeting. Doctor, however, soon bounces the ball back. "Daan's father left the company well, which means there is a future for the next generation. And Daan, he is just doing very well," the advisor is happy to emphasize.
40 percent wheat in construction plan
Although seed potatoes are the company's main branch, wheat cultivation accounts for a considerable share in the cultivation plan with 24 hectares. Besides being a nice rest crop before seed potatoes, it also fits well into the work schedule of the young arable farmer. Just about all work is carried out in-house. And that means not only planting and harvesting potatoes yourself, but also threshing grain, pressing bales, harvesting beets and even chopping maize for livestock farmers with your own machine. "Technology, that's kind of my passion. That's why I do almost all repairs and maintenance myself," he says, pointing to a tractor that is in 2 parts in the workshop. "Some see such a repair as a problem; I see it as a challenge to get it right again."
Of the 24 hectares of wheat - about 40% of the total construction plan - about 16 hectares were sown as winter wheat in mid-October. Unfortunately, the remaining 8 hectare plot remained too wet, so spring wheat will soon be sown there. Lanser and Dokter are very satisfied with the state of the winter wheat. "The crop looks nice and fresh and the frost and snow do not seem to have caused any major damage so far," says Dokter. He does warn against septoria, which can easily reach around with the rapidly rising temperature.
'Ascra Xpro always fits'
To keep the wheat healthy and productive, Lanser maintains a fairly strict disease control. In some years this means an early T0 spraying, but usually a targeted T1 and T2 spraying is sufficient. For the past 2 years, T1 Ascra Xpro and deployed on T2 Elatus® Era. According to Doctor, this has been a fairly 'usual duo' for a number of years, although in his opinion it is also possible to Ascra Xpro slide to T2 and use another resource on T1. "Anyway, Ascra Xpro a permanent partner in the spraying schedule. It has a reliable and long-lasting effect against all major fungal diseases and can be moved around quite easily. Sometimes the disease pressure is not yet that high and you want to extend the spraying time a bit. Or the weather conditions do not allow spraying for a while, so that it is forced to be a bit later. Of Ascra Xpro can do all that. In that respect it is a very practical tool; it always fits."
Although Lanser is keen on the cost of wheat cultivation, he notices that good disease control pays off. "With the yield we are on average around 10 tons per hectare and then I think you do well in our area with fairly variegated soil. It must be said that we also divide the nitrogen application neatly in three and can choose the harvest time well. because we thresh the wheat ourselves. All those little bits help to get good yields from the land," he concludes.
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