'Large red onions yield more'

De Boerenbusiness This year, Crop Tour will follow 8 plots with yellow seed onions in the Netherlands. Every week we ask an onion grower about the plot, his choices and vision. This week it is Dirk Binnema, in the photo with son Hans Pieter, an arable farmer in Eenrum in Groningen.

The seed is now in the ground, how are the onions doing?
"The first seed is there, despite the fact that it has not been very warm here. Potatoes were grown on the Gewastour plot last year. It is a light loamy soil, so we plowed with the furrow packer just before sowing. Then we sprayed NTS. and prepared the land for sowing with the quick harrow and compactor. The Crop Tour plot was sown on 2 April and that went quite well, although in some places it was coarse enough to sow. The seed is nicely moist and the conditions are fine."

Which onion varieties do you grow on the company?
"We grow the Hypark and Red Tide varieties. The Hypark variety has 17 hectares and we have 6 hectares of the Red Tide variety. All the seed has been primed this year. Last year I had a small corner of primed seed for the first time. With I immediately thought of the turnout: 'We should always do this.' They came up faster and they looked a bit nicer. In the summer you could hardly see any of them in the crop. I didn't do a trial harvest, but once the harvest was done, the yield was certainly no less. Primed seed costs something of course more, but you sow a little less because more seeds come up. For example, this year I sowed 3.4 units with Hypark. With the variety Red Tide I sowed 3.1 units. I like to get large onions, because they often yield a bit more, especially red ones onions. In combination with primed seed and slightly less seed, I arrive at these sowing units."

You can store quite a few onions, what is your strategy in storage?
"In principle I can store everything and I usually do. I often keep red in boxes and yellow loose in the box. I just don't keep the onions until the end, I prefer to get rid of them all before January 1. You try of course to feel what the market is doing, but like this year with Covid-19 I thought the risk was high. The price was also quite nice for a long time, so what would you wait for? So my strategy is I save, but not wants to sit on the onions for too long."

Do you see an expansion in seed onions on the farm?
"We are in the pool with all crops and it is nice to be free with your onions. We have been growing seed onions since 2007 and it also connects to potato cultivation. On our own land, expansion in the onions is not really possible and there are We are about the maximum in terms of building plan, because I grow 1 in 6. But who knows what will be possible later, the children are enthusiastic, so never say 'never'."

This is your first year participating, what do you expect from the Crop Tour? 
'I expect to gain knowledge from the other participants. The group is serious and I find it interesting and fun to hear the experiences of others. There are also interesting discussions and the pros and cons of certain topics are discussed. This is just the beginning.

Jesse Torringa

Jesse is an editor at Boerenbusiness and focuses in particular on the arable farming sector, including grain and onions. He also closely follows the fertilizer market. In addition, Jesse works on an arable farm in Groningen with seed potatoes as the main branch.

j.torringa@boerenbusiness. Nl

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