Partnership Bos is prospering with sprouts and cows

Distinguishing yourself from the crowd is important to be able to move forward as agricultural entrepreneurs. The brothers Marien and Driek Bos think so in Ouwerkerk on Schouwen-Duiveland in Zeeland. They therefore do not have your average arable farm. In addition to the standard arable crops, the brothers also grow Brussels sprouts and keep beef cattle.

The Bos brothers' company has been established in Ouwerkerk since 1975. Farmers' blood has been running through the veins of the family since 1600, who first farmed in the Zoetermeer area. "I am not concerned with tractors with the most horsepower under the hood. I am concerned with a profitable company", Marien Bos says straight away. "That's why I think it's so great that we keep beef cattle, in all modesty, and that it's still profitable. In the past six months, when there were many farmers' protests, we worked on expanding the number of cows."

Cows must yield something
The red-and-white double-muscled cows are actually the passion of brother Driek Bos, who is also known from the Farmer seeks Woman programme. "We have always kept the cows, but at a certain point I did say to my brother: those cows are fine as long as they also generate money. And that works very well by selling the meat of the cows themselves as meat packages." , said Marien Bos.

Although the cows provide a nice side income, the company is really about the sprouts. The brothers are busy all year round. The sprouts are harvested from August to early March.

Difficult cultivation
Sprouts cultivation is certainly not the easiest cultivation. "Because we have some of the sprouts on rented land, it is always a challenge to coordinate the varieties, the harvest planning and the wishes of the landlords. Fertilization is also a difficult point with such a diversity of plots and different soil types, but the most difficult part of the cultivation is the insect pressure, especially thrips."The sprout growers are affiliated with trading house Van Oers United, which sells the sprouts. "In principle, we have no contracts or obligations with them. We do indicate the expected acreage of the different varieties and in between we indicate the expected yields."

The harvest of the earliest varieties starts in August. However, the harvest is very slow. "If we work very hard and everything goes well, we pick 0,4 hectares a day. But if something goes wrong, it immediately goes a lot slower. Then you have to think of a lot of green leaves, for example. We pick the sprouts " in the morning and sort them immediately. The same day they go to the trading house. The sprouts are already in the supermarket 1 or 2 days later."

For picking, the company has a 3-row picking machine, on which 3 people sit. "The sprouts are transported with a dumper to the farm, where they are sorted and prepared for shipment. Every day we have sprouts, a truck comes to collect them."

Sprouts under cloth
The Bos partnership is one of the few companies in the Netherlands that grows sprouts under cloth. "That is important to have sprouts available early. By arriving a little earlier, you can often achieve a better price, because in the early period, early August, the supply is still small. Moreover, it is important for Van Oers United to sprouts available all year round. After August, the large mass of sprouts gradually comes onto the market and the demand also gradually increases. Around December/January, the demand for sprouts peaks. After January, it drops again. Because Van Oers sprouts from mid-April from Morocco, the company has sprouts available all year round."

The brothers have about 36 hectares of sprouts. That is good for about 3.600 man hours of work, because harvesting and processing 1 hectare takes an average of 100 man hours. Sprouts cultivation is therefore very labour-intensive. "You can often let a Dutch driver on a potato harvester do his thing, but with our Eastern Europeans it is useful if you keep a close eye on things."

Balance can be great good but also bad
The sprout cultivation makes the company profitable for 2 people, although the market is fickle. "The balance of sprouts can be very good, but also very bad. The differences can be very large," says Marien. "In addition to a strongly fluctuating market, you also have to deal with large yield differences. On average we harvest around 24 tons per hectare, but this season there was also a variety that reached 37 tons."

However, both brothers think the sprout branch of the company is 'super beautiful.' In addition to Brussels sprouts, the brothers also have French fries, early onion sets and celeriac. They are going to reduce the area of ​​early onion sets a bit, because in their view the market is getting fuller. They do everything with their own mechanization. That's important, because they want to be flexible. "It can also just happen that we have to do a caesarean section on one of the cows in between."

Rather a shed than machines
A new shed is planned as an investment. The sorting line for Brussels sprouts and space for the machines should be in that shed. This frees up space in the storage shed for the storage of potatoes and celeriac. "We also want to equip the storage shed with mechanical cooling, because storage is becoming more difficult now that Chlorpropham is disappearing. We prefer to invest in a shed than in a machine, because the value of those machines disappears again."

The brothers agree that 'standing out from the crowd' at their company is a way forward. "It seems that for many young farmers only efficiency and increasing size is the way to go. Many companies seek refuge in seed potatoes. But you rarely see inventing something different, and that is also difficult. In the past there were more additional sources of income to come up with. ', thinks Driek. "However, creativity and inventiveness must be an important characteristic of an entrepreneur, because that is precisely why new opportunities always arise. And that is the best thing about doing business: expanding your company step by step."

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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