Peen academy starts
What does the future of carrot cultivation look like?
Carrot cultivation in the Netherlands faces various challenges. Delphy is therefore starting a Peen academy. What does the future of carrot cultivation look like?
Most of the worries are caused by climate change, a narrower crop protection product package, resistance management and market developments. A good example of climate change was played last season.
Marc Versprille, cultivation advisor at Delphy in Dronten (Flevoland) is 1 of the 2 founders of the Peen Academy, which will start on Tuesday 30 January. Last season he mainly saw challenges in the drought and heat surrounding the emergence of the crop. "As a result, many plants have disappeared at an early stage, and a lot of carrots have grown coarsely."
This was followed by a wet autumn, which caused problems with bacterial rot and ring rot in various places. "Winters are increasingly absent and it also seems to be getting less cold. Not to mention the wetness in large parts of the Netherlands." Versprille mainly sees opportunities in soil resilience and quality in order to deal well with the more extreme conditions.
New varieties
In the longer term, Versprille sees several challenges, such as the narrowing of the authorization of plant protection products, resistance management and the emergence of so-called 'green products', soil improvers and plant enhancers. New varieties and their sales naturally also play a role.
Yield of the carrot crop
The yield of carrot cultivation is related to a number of success factors: quality, size selection, yield and price. This is the opinion of Niek Vedelaar, who is also a cultivation advisor at Delphy and co-founder of the Peen Academy. The grower has only limited influence on the latter factor, despite the fact that it is still one of the few commercial crops within the arable sector.
Vedelaar advises to focus on quality. "By selling excellent quality carrots at the right time, the sector maintains its value for now and in the future." Vedelaar mentions the possibility of shaping chain collaboration up to the supermarket or industry in order to form a financially stable and healthy crop in arable farming.
Growers who want to commit themselves to good quality carrots can join the Carrot Academy and thus learn from each other and make use of the expertise that is available. Vedelaar: "During the kick-off meeting on January 30, we will see how great the interest is. We expect to be able to form 2 groups of a maximum of 15 growers: a conventional group and an organic group."
Anne-Jan Doorn
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