René Mesken took over his father's company in Appelscha, Friesland, in 2015 and purchased a new location, where he moved in. He rents agricultural land throughout the Northern Netherlands, from Stadskanaal to Leeuwarden. Last year he managed around 300 hectares, on which he grew potatoes, onions, beets and corn. However, for the coming year he has decided to grow only potatoes and drop the other crops.
This year he has stored 8.000 tons of potatoes, which he had already sold in June last year. He grows everything for Jan Bakker, with whom he has a soil contract. In addition, he shares in the profits, which has worked out well in recent years. He does not see regulations as a major obstacle. "If you have no influence on something, you have to let it go. There is no point in that," he believes. If the government were to limit production, that would be beneficial, according to him, because the market mechanism would be removed from the market, which would ultimately benefit stability.
René is critical of innovative techniques, because he believes that they do not generate money. He notes that more and more people are risk-averse and that he sometimes gets fed up with that. "You are not allowed to take risks, but what kind of risk do you really take in the Netherlands?", he says. He believes that many people seek safety outside themselves, which he sees as a social problem. He does take risks himself. Last year he planted potatoes until the end of June. "You can complain that things are going badly, or you just carry on. You have no influence on the weather."
René advertises in the newspaper and sees who comes. "Everything in my life comes to me these days and I trust that. That's how the right people come my way." For the Crop Tour, René grows the Innovator potato variety on an area of approximately 30 to 40 hectares. Because he is on the border of a wart disease area, he is not allowed to grow Innovators everywhere. He has a clear vision of agriculture: he believes that onions sometimes turn out well and sometimes not, which makes it insufficiently profitable for him. René acts a lot on feeling and thinks that the onion market is not looking good at the moment. He thinks the best moment in the growing season is the peace that he can find at any time, especially in the spring when there is water on the land. "Just stay calm, that applies to everything," he says. He sees the increasing land prices as a logical consequence of inflation. "Money is becoming less and less valuable, so prices are rising." He sees himself as a trendsetter rather than a trend follower and does not concern himself much with others.
His father made the switch from livestock farming to arable farming in the late 70s. René sees himself primarily as a manager: he arranges everything and makes sure that everyone is in the right place. He leaves the trade to Jan Bakker. He asks himself and others the question: are you doing this because you want to, or because that's how you were taught? For him, it is important to think about this consciously and to determine how he really wants to see it.
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