When does onion price satisfy you?

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 Harmjan Hospers from the Noordoostpolder. Together with his father, he runs an arable farm in Nagele.

The plot has been sown, how are the sowing onions doing?
"It looks good so far. The seeds have now germinated. We plowed in November and the pre-fruit is winter wheat and grass seed. We now have the Entec and a potash fertilizer on it. Last week (week 15) we had the first We had a GBM round for the onions, then we sprayed 1L blunt. You can see it everywhere, but the ground is a lot better than last year. Last year we needed several treatments. That was a one-off this year with the power harrow and it lay perfectly. The onions are in a nice moist soil and they are now germinating well."

Which onion variety do you grow? 
"The variety we grow is Hysky. This variety is not bothered much by fusarium and that is important to us. We have been growing this variety for some time, it works fine. In previous years we had primed seed, but not this year. reason being it was sold out, so we had no other choice. We couldn't say that unprimed seed was that much better than primed seed, so now we do it this way every year."

Do you have a specific strategy for selling seed onions?
"We are free every year with the seed onions and the free market interests me a lot. We are at Agrico and Averis with our seed potatoes. You ensure that you have a good product, but you have no influence on the price. the free onions is therefore extra interesting. When is the best time to sell, do you just wait until you get a better price and when is that price actually good enough? Quality naturally plays an enormous role and you are very dependent on different Factors around you, such as what choices other onion growers make, do they remain calm or do they suddenly want to sell everything? There are many factors that have an influence. We will say goodbye to our onions by February at the latest, partly because Hysky is not a perfect storage variety But that differs per year, because when are you satisfied with the price?"

Which strategy do you apply in onion cultivation?
"We look at exactly what the crop needs, both with crop protection and providing enough moisture. We are not necessarily careful, but certainly at the beginning of cultivation it is important to see what stage your crop is at. Irrigation is easy for us. We are not very fond of it in the beginning, let the onions take their course and take root. As soon as they are well underway and it is dry, we add moisture. it is important that you give them about the same amount of water. The onions have to keep going."

What is the reason that you participate in the Crop Tour?
"Last year I became interested in the Crop Tour. It is interesting and the choices of growers are very diverse. I am still very young myself and in this way I can learn from the experienced onion growers. The other way around I can also share my insights on onion cultivation. sharing again. That way we help each other further."

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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