More than 700.000 agricultural plots in the Netherlands form the backbone of Boer&Bunder. Arable farmer and pig farmer Mark Meinen makes grateful use of it, especially when renting land. 'It's easy to see the size and history of a plot.'
In Aalten, Aalten, Meinen runs a pig farm and arable farm together with his father Jan. At the company Mts. Meinen have 425 sows around. In addition, the men are busy growing potatoes, supplemented with some maize for crop rotation. In total, this concerns 100 hectares of ware potatoes and 50 hectares of starch potatoes. Rental land is mainly used for this building plan and Farmer&Bunder outcome.
More and more intensive
Meinen has been using the platform for about 4 years now. "In the beginning only to look around a bit, but I liked it better and better," says the entrepreneur. "Reason to adjust our subscription. In recent years I have been using Boer&Bunder more and more intensively. It is especially easy to have a quick insight into the plot size. In addition, you always want to know what has been on it over the last few years. Those data are for the main motivation for me to use Boer&Bunder."
mts. Meinen owns or leases some land, but the majority of the cultivation is rented out. "We mainly work with dairy and pig farmers for this. It is nice to be able to exchange Boer&Bunder data with them." By this he refers to the cultivation history and plot size. "There is sometimes a difference between what the landlord says and the actual plot data," laughs Meinen.
Added value when sowing or planting
A big advantage according to the entrepreneur is that you can view the cultivation data of a plot up to 9 years ago. "The size is also useful when you want to sow or plant. As well as when signing up the plots for the cultivation registration. The only thing I still miss is being able to easily print out a plot, so that we can also do this at the drawing table. can use."
Meinen only looks at other functionalities that Boer&Bunder offers, such as elevation maps and satellite images. "I do keep an eye on them, but I am not yet actively working with the data. I am not yet sure whether that has added value for us." At the same time, precision agriculture is playing an increasingly important role on his farm. "Data is important and in this case worth the investment."