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'You really have to give priority to onion cultivation'
Jantinus Beijering from Schoonloo (Dr.) is growing onions for the third year. "If you're on top of things, you can grow onions here," is his experience. Crucial components are weed and disease control. "They listen very closely. Spraying onions cannot just wait a few days; you really have to give that priority."
"Whether onion cultivation is a good fit for our company?", Jantinus Beijering repeats the first question. "No, not really. We are already very busy with the seed potatoes and especially during the harvest period we can't have the onions. But yes. "We have noticed in recent years that we can achieve a good balance with onions. Then we just have to work a little harder," he says with a broad smile. Besides the prospect of a good balance, the arable farmer also finds it a great new challenge. "With onion cultivation you really have to be on top of it. With sowing, with irrigating, with weed and disease control, with harvest and also with storage. I think that's just beautiful! Moreover, I like a little risk and the associated trade also suits me. With onions you can go in all directions in that respect."
Area has grown enormously
After a start with 15 hectares of onions in 2019, the acreage has now grown to 26 hectares this year. And with a 1-to-6 rotation on 270 hectares, there is even more room for this new crop. "Still, we will keep it that way for the time being," says Beijering. "We have our hands full with those 26 hectares. Moreover, a new storage shed has to be added before we can think about further growth. If you want to earn something from onions, you have to be able to store everything."
According to cultivation advisor Gerwin Vos of WPA Robertus – who is also present at the meeting – onion cultivation throughout Drenthe has really taken off. "Five years ago there were hardly any onions in this area. And now there are several hundred hectares. That is an unprecedented change in a very short time." According to Vos, onion cultivation generally fits in well with the Northeastern cultivation plan and there is more than enough virgin soil available. In recent years it has also been shown that onions from the sand can be stored very well. It is important to harvest on time, so that the onions do not become too gray. "So you should not go for the very last kilos, because then you immediately lose the quality a lot," he knows.
The advisor also emphasizes that onion cultivation 'must always take precedence' over other crops. And that requires – certainly for the starters – a different mindset. "Many arable farmers are still planting potatoes when weed control in the onions also has to be carried out. Then you have to realize: planting can wait a while, but weed control in onions certainly not." Irrigation should also be given top priority, he says. "Don't wait too long for a shower, which may not come at all. Onions must be watered systematically; you really have to plan that."
Fandango and Luna Experience
Another important part of cultivation is disease control. Vos says that the pressure of downy mildew, leaf spot disease and Stemphylium in his working area is not yet that great. ,,That is mainly the result of the dry weather in recent years, but also because most onion fields are still at a reasonable distance from each other. Downy mildew in particular has less chance to spread; We have hardly seen that fungus here in recent years.”
Although the disease pressure has remained low for the time being, Vos warns emphatically against underestimation. ,,Everything is different in a wet season and you have to pull out all the stops to keep fungal diseases under control. Most new growers have not yet experienced this, but that will of course come at some point.” It is also worrying that the package of products against onion diseases has thinned out considerably in recent years. In addition, the widely used (and cheap) drug mancozeb will no longer be allowed next year. “In fact, we only have a handful of resources left, of which Fandango en Luna Experience are by far the most important strengths. These two resources will form the heart of disease control next year and we will have to deploy them in a targeted and alternating manner in the middle block'', Vos looks ahead.
Although all important fungal diseases in onions can be effectively combated with Fandango and Luna Experience, the consultant is somewhat concerned about the very limited package of resources that remains after the expiry of mancozeb. ,,Next season we will miss all resources based on mancozeb and we will become very dependent on a small package of products. This is of course not a desirable development. In cultivation, we will have to consider very carefully which product to use at what time.”
Partly for this reason, WPA Robertus has (again) set up a test field near Beijering this year. Several spraying schedules in onions are compared with each other. "We are not only looking at disease control, but also at the effects on greening, onion health and yield," says Vos.
In any case, Beijering's 'warning words' have not fallen on deaf ears. ,,I always stick to the spraying schedule for onions. Not only because it is still a fairly new crop for us – and we don't know the consequences of diseases well yet, but also because I want to have healthy onions in storage anyway. We have noticed that the trade is increasingly coming our way in recent years, because they know that we can grow beautiful onions here. The run-up to Drenthe must of course remain that way'', concludes the arable farmer.
