Irrigating, we'll see later if it pays off.

Regionally, the differences in precipitation that fell in April are significant. In the west and center of the country, virtually no rain fell this month, according to the KNMI precipitation map.

The national average precipitation deficit is as large as in around the 5% driest years. The current precipitation deficit for the Netherlands averages 49 millimeters.

For potatoes and cereals, the drought this spring is not yet the most critical issue. However, spring land is drying out very rapidly. Compacting the soil quickly after plowing to prevent clods and not waiting too long to plant is the motto for many arable farmers who plow light soil in the spring. On sandy soil, insiders are more concerned about evaporation. This is not yet such a problem for potatoes, but it is particularly relevant for maize right now. Some growers are therefore deciding to sow anyway, even though the temperature is not yet right for a quick start for the maize.

encrusting
For onions and, to a lesser extent, beets, the situation is slightly different. Growers who sowed early (around or before mid-March) experienced a shower on their freshly sown land in some regions, resulting in crust formation. Breaking the crust with a weed harrow is risky, which is why several growers have chosen to soften the crust using a sprinkler system.

By now, irrigation is primarily being used for germinating onions to maintain a connection with moisture deeper in the soil. If this continues, the early-planted onions will likely soon follow for an artificial shower, or they may have already had one.

Whether the costs of irrigation outweigh the returns is a topic every year. This season, with relatively high fuel prices and dismal potato and onion prices that are only so-so, that is perhaps even more of a concern than usual.

Creative math
Apart from the contracted volumes, you naturally do not know what the market is going to do. If we get better prices next season, you need to have something to sell, various growers reason. Especially with drip irrigation, this is the reason for many to incur the costs, which quickly approach €1.500 per hectare for hoses, installation, and connection.

When irrigating with a reel, many a grower gets a bit creative with the calculations. 'I have the reel anyway, the man-hours are available, and those 10 or 12 liters of diesel fuel aren't the costs in the grand scheme of things,' is often the reasoning. Of course, the cost price is different for everyone, but if you rely on example business economic calculations, you quickly end up looking at around €200 per hectare per application for a 25-millimeter dose. If you irrigate five times in a season, it amounts to €1.000 per hectare. With potatoes or onions at €25 per 100 kilos, that can quickly pay off, but with onions at €10 or potatoes that are impossible to give away, everything is too expensive.

Incidentally, the weather in July and August is decisive for the final yield of potatoes and onions (excluding early varieties). Those are the months in which the kilos are produced, and the weather by then will have a much greater impact on the market than the few dry weeks we have had so far.