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Van Dongen: 'Looking broader than fertilization'
Legislation will be introduced if too great an environmental impact is measured in a crop. This is happening again for maize in the sixth action program for the Nitrates Directive. According to Claude van Dongen, portfolio holder for Soil and Water Quality at LTO Nederland, this requires a new way of thinking: "Look at maize within your total business system."
Van Dongen: "Don't focus on this year's maize yield, but see the total of roughage yield, mineral utilization and preservation of your soil. Fertilization is all about utilization: look at plot and crop specific areas where the manure is best used. On For example, with torn grassland, maize can do without slurry in the first year and the utilization on grassland is much higher."
do everything right
Van Dongen therefore does not see the new measures as a major threat. "With those standards, maize can still be grown. You just have to become sharper and do everything right in the cultivation: sow earlier ripening varieties, being critical of the choice of plot, taking care of the pH and potassium supply and growing a good catch crop."
Custom Made
LTO Nederland is now focusing on regional customization. "With specific policy per company, we can achieve much more in limiting leaching. We will have to prove that hard in Brussels, otherwise the legislation will only become stricter."
View the LG corn varieties for 2018 here.
