Crop tour weekend 39
Potato fields are flooded in the southwest
Growers in the south-west of the Netherlands have had a lot of precipitation in recent days, so much that many plots are flooded. Many growers are digging trenches with the shovel to drain water or use a mini tap. Growers in the south are concerned about the quality of the potatoes and predict storage problems.
Daan Goense from Driewegen (Ze) thinks it's a sad sight. He is digging trenches with the shovel to a nearby ditch. "You see people digging gullies all over the area, many with a mini crane. Some even from the beet country". Goense says that the showers were not even particularly heavy and long, sometimes 13 in one night, but also 4 or 5 in fifteen minutes. The precipitation fell very locally in Zeeland, about five kilometers further from the Goense farm it looks a lot better. Goense wants to remove the driest plot at the end of next week, if it doesn't rain much anymore.
He says he no longer goes for a '10' in terms of harvesting conditions. "If the 4th or 5th of October wants a bit, then I'll dig up". He still has 32 hectares of potatoes to go, but is afraid of the quality of the tubers. He digs up the driest plots first, so that they end up in the back of the box and can remain there for the longest. The wetter ones that come in the front can always leave earlier. In the spring, Goense turned instead of plowed, making the structure coarser. That comes in handy now, because it allows the water to drain better.
Water just won't go away
Kees Vrolijk from Fijnaart in West Brabant was also busy digging trenches. He informs by telephone that he had not expected this: "It just does not want to leave, plots that normally never have water on them are now empty. Incomprehensible". Many cranes and growers can also be found in his region who dig trenches. Merry tells, just like Goense, that it has rained hard, but no particularly heavy showers: "75 millimeters from Monday, they had predicted half. This will probably be an accumulation of last season".
Merry has 140 hectares and does not call the situation disastrous yet. He is less concerned about harvesting. It is still September, he says, and no more than 10% of the storage potatoes have been harvested. He does see problems with tubers that are now rotting. They now remain in the back and can cause major problems in the box. He therefore wants to dig up what is good as soon as possible and skip the pieces that have been underwater for too long (about 5 to 10%). However, this limit is always difficult to determine. He works with large storage boxes of 1.000 tons, which contain two lots, and therefore sees the rot as a major risk. Merry explains that in and around Fijnaart there are also parcels of onions in the swath with water on them.
In neighboring Willemstad, Vrolijk has a plot with heavy soil. Just as much rain has fallen there as in Fijnaart, but there is no water on the land. When it is dry for about four days with enough sun and wind, harvesting takes place there. On the other plots, Vrolijk thinks he can't wait for the rotten to be gone. "As a long-term storer, you look forward to the storage season with such an autumn, these conditions and the high prices. If I had to harvest everything from land, I would have had a lot less worries about the harvest."
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Robin Winter
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