Robin de Winter (21) comes from Swifterbant and is now in his fourth year of the Agricultural Entrepreneurship Horticulture and Arable Farming course at Aeres Hogeschool Dronten. He helps a lot at home on their 100-hectare arable farm and is also a member of the partnership. Robin is following his graduation internship Boerenbusiness† He is responsible for the ins and outs of the Crop tour, an annual project in which arable farmers from all over the Netherlands are closely followed in the cultivation of onions and potatoes.
Robin is enthusiastic about the development he has made during his internship. "I was able to develop myself in social and cultivation techniques. In addition, I was able to apply the theory learned in practice. I can use this knowledge in a beautiful way in the future."
How is your internship going?
"During my internship I am involved in the Crop Tour of Boerenbusiness† In the office I am mainly busy calling growers. I talk to them about what they do to grow their crops as optimally as possible, how they do that and why they make certain choices. The various topics are important here: choice of irrigation, precipitation and the problems that arise around the cultivation. I then translate this information into an article for the website. I found it difficult to write the articles in the beginning. In my opinion I sometimes became a bit repetitive within my articles, but people liked to read and the reading numbers are still rising. That's very nice to see!"
How do you experience the internship?
"I experience the internship as very instructive, socially broadening and in-depth. You talk to growers who have to deal with different soil types, different construction plans, other cultivation methods and different areas within their agricultural company. All in all, you learn growers within the entire agricultural sector. I grew up in Flevoland myself and then followed my primary, secondary and higher vocational education in Dronten. This internship gave me the opportunity to get to know people from the agricultural sector throughout the country."
What did you get the most energy from during your internship?
"I got energy from visiting the participants of the Crop Tour. At the start of the internship I visited many growers and I was allowed to traverse the entire country. I was allowed to take a look at the growers' barn and the land. I found the different ways of approaching the participants mainly interesting and very instructive. However, I had to get used to the company visits with strangers. You do not know the participants and you do not know how talkative they are. Fortunately, the participants were very open and liked to tell about their business."
"I also have myself with me Boerenbusiness be able to develop well in the social field, especially through telephone conversations and approaching people. In addition, I pushed myself to delve even more into cultivation, such as the moments when spraying disease control. I was able to apply the knowledge I learned from home in a beautiful way during the internship."
How do you see the future for you?
"My goal is to take over the company at home, but I want to do something else for that. I don't know exactly what the interpretation of this will be yet, but something within the agricultural sector. I want to find something where I can do the work combine with the company at home, so that I can gradually take over the company. The amount of hectares at home are too few for two full-time employees, so I want to learn other things in the meantime. Maybe I also want to go abroad, but that's going we see."
Were the expectations you had from the internship fulfilled?"Boerenbusiness initially appealed to me because you get a lot of freedom here and you get the opportunity to broaden your own circle of knowledge. The vacancy stated that the internship will give you more insight into how things are going in the agricultural sector throughout the country and that seemed very interesting to me. These expectations have certainly been fulfilled, I have been able to gain a lot of knowledge. I have been in contact with several growers throughout the country. In addition, I have developed myself socially. I have learned by asking questions in one-on-one conversations, also with people unknown to me. I recommend an internship Boerenbusiness definitely recommend for future interns! You will learn to immerse yourself even further in the agricultural sector. If you would like to see how different arable farmers throughout the Netherlands work, then this is the perfect internship!"