'If there is a nitrogen crisis, it has been there for 140 years'

"If there is a nitrogen crisis in Zeeland, it has been there for 140 years," says arable farmer Frank Peter Kuijpers. In addition to being an arable farmer, he is also a member of the Provincial Council in Zeeland and tries to see current agricultural problems in the light of history.

On his arable farm in Ossenisse (Zeeuws-Vlaanderen) he picks up one old and well-thumbed book after another. "Look here, it says that the ammonia deposition in 1880 was about 11 kilos per hectare. Now that is 12 to 17 kilos, but that is also NOx in addition to ammonia. So if there is already a nitrogen crisis in Zeeland, then there is already more than 140 year."

Kuijpers also knows the explanation for this. "In the past, peat and coal were fired, while we now generally burn more cleanly. So you can actually say that we have done a good job in terms of nitrogen. In any case, we as farmers in Zeeland are only responsible for a very small part for the nitrogen deposition. More than half comes from Belgium and another large part from nature."

He concludes from another book that 120 hectares of agricultural land have been lost in Zeeland in the past 25.700 years, while the acreage of forest land has tripled. "That loss is therefore just as great as the islands of Tholen and Noord-Beveland together." Kuijpers reports it soberly, but nevertheless it is noticeable that it does not leave him cold. According to him, the biggest problem for the agricultural sector in Zeeland is the lack of freshwater. "The freshwater supplies have been built up in 1.000 years, but are now no longer being replenished. I expect the problems with salinity to increase in the next 5 years."

Bread on the shelf important
The Zeeland-Flemish arable farmer is very committed to farmers. Yet his main portfolio in the Provincial Council is not 'agriculture'. There he is mainly busy with infrastructure. This stems from a period in which he was active at ZLTO. There he was busy with road safety around agricultural vehicles. "That way you can also use your talents for society."

Kuijpers realizes that, in addition to ideals, there must also be bread on the table. "In the crises just after the Second World War, farmers were needed and now they are being discarded." His partridge field also shows that there must be bread on the table. "Of course it's great that I can contribute to partridge conservation in this way, but I wouldn't do it if I didn't get a contribution roughly equal to the yields of an average arable crop."

This brings us to his company from the national and provincial problems. Kuijpers has an arable farm of approximately 70 hectares. When he took over in 1984 the company was about 38 hectares. "Yes, there was already multifunctional agriculture in the past; my father had a cafe next to the arable farm. When I took over, I enlarged the company and made it more intensive by growing extra onions." However, the increase in scale is not a goal for him: "The bank is happy with the increase in scale, but are you also? You also see that in these wet harvest years the large companies are having a hard time with, for example, the potato harvest."

Sorry about Skylark
Kuijpers was affiliated with Skylark. Kuijpers finds it a pity that Skylark is disappearing, because he found the knowledge he gained there interesting. This becomes apparent when he starts talking enthusiastically about soil and agricultural research. "The importance of good research weighs heavily. The bottom remains difficult, because every scientist has an opinion. At the moment, fundamental research is lacking, although I understand that it is expensive."

"I'm not a big fan of the trends. You saw, for example, that non-inversion tillage was much praised. But now it turns out that you only retain organic matter in the top layer. However, it is very important that you also retain organic matter in the layer below. dust, especially in dry years. Fertilizer is also served as a bad off, but those few grams of chlorine from fertilizer on the soil are barely noticeable."

In addition to potatoes, sugar beet and wheat, Kuijpers also grows flax and brown beans for HAK. "There is a processor nearby for flax, and the price is better than wheat." The company also has 5 hectares of perennial partridge fields and about 5 hectares of barley.

Opaque potato price
He sells his potatoes through Nedato and Kleinjan Aardappelhandel. It concerns table potatoes, from which he must grow good quality. "Because, otherwise you will go down to the chips potatoes. And, the table potato area is getting smaller anyway. I continue to find the prices of table potatoes opaque. They are available in the supermarket for about €1,30 per kilo, while we are €0,15. get XNUMX."

Kuijpers is not a free market grower. He also grows his pink onions under contract. It is a licensed variety that he sells through Monie. When it comes to the market, he mainly relies on drivers. "Then I ask how many ships are in Vlissingen and then I know enough," he says with a smile.

Sell ​​emotion
Nevertheless, Kuijpers does think about marketing his products. For example, he states that the trade has failed to market the Skylark certificate. "You see that emotion sells. Look at the Vegetarian Butcher, for example. I think that regular arable farming also sells emotion. For example, we can sell more when it comes to a local, Dutch and high-quality product."

This brings us back to national policy. Because, according to Kuijpers, the policy of the Dutch government is based far too much on emotion. "Every week something different is invented and it is never good. You don't want to renovate something on a sprayer every year and have to inspect everything. When I started as a arable farmer you could wear out a machine, but that is no longer the case now by."

Too much interference
According to Kuijpers, politicians are now more involved in agriculture than in the time when he started out as an arable farmer. "That is also because everything can now be examined in detail, while practice is sometimes lost sight of."

Anne-Jan Doorn

Anne Jan Doorn is an arable expert at Boerenbusiness. He writes about the various arable farming markets and also focuses on the land and energy market.

aj.doorn@boerenbusiness. Nl

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