Crop tour Reinder Hogenhout
'Keep onions for a long time until we like the price'
De Boerenbusiness This year, Croptour will again follow eight plots with yellow seed onions. The participating growers take us along with the growth from sowing to harvest and the decisions in cultivation. In this series of company reports we introduce them. In the first part: Reinder Hogenhout from Kimswerd (Fr).
The Hogenhout family business is located near the beginning of the Afsluitdijk, east of the Wadden Sea. An area where arable farming is only a small strip along the coast, compared to the dairy farms in the interior. The farm shop sells products from the past season, such as ware potatoes and onions. The farm where father, mother and son Reinder are active also has a sideline. They advise and supply arable farmers with fertilizers, crop protection products and sowing seeds.
The Hogenhout family's arable farm consists of more than 100 hectares of clay soil with a siltability of 20 to 35%. 35 hectares of table potatoes, 33 hectares of winter wheat, 10 hectares of seed onions, 23 hectares of sugar beet and 8 hectares of winter carrots are grown. The Onion Crop Tour plot is 8 hectares in size and will be prepared and sown this week.
Growing coarser onions using a different technique
The new season has started in the Kimswerd area. As far as cultivation is concerned, not much will change at Hogenhout's company, but sowing onions will be different this year. Previously, the contractor always came by to sow onions on a 1,50 meter bed with 5 rows. This year Hogenhout is experimenting with an onion seeder that sows 8 rows at 1,50 metres. This is done by placing the sowing elements close to each other in pairs. "In this way we want to try to get coarse and even onions. We sow the same amount of seed as before on a hectare, but because we now have three more rows on the bed, the onions get less competition from the same row. There is more. competition from the immediate row next door".
Large range of table potatoes
Seed onions are not the main crop at Hogenhout. The table potatoes make up the largest part of the cultivation plan with 35 hectares, followed by wheat. Hogenhout has a wide range of table potato varieties. "We grow the varieties Doré, Frieslander, Bildstar, Eigenheimer, Irene, Maritiema, Marjan, Karelia and Aromata. The main reasons for growing these varieties is the certainty in the sale and control of AM/Pallida.
Wheat is what makes up a third of the construction plan every year before the potatoes. Other crops fill fewer hectares and differ every year. "We are on a soil that contains 20 to 35% silt, which means that it is not possible to grow seed onions and carrots on every plot. As a result, the acreage of seed onions and carrots also differs every year" With the green manure crops, Hogenhout always tries to sow quickly after the wheat and early potato varieties. Green manures that can be found on the farm are black radish, Japanese oats and mixtures. Exchanging land with nearby dairy farmers is not done. "Many grounds around this are not suitable for arable farming. It is not for nothing that it is grassland."
Custody
In storage, Hogenhout does not have to consider which crop is preferred, because there is enough capacity to store all crops. All products are turned in boxes and some of the roots are already used for cultivation. Hogenhout has the rest of the products free. The reason for this is the freedom to control their trade. The sales strategy is simple, "keep them until we like the price, even if they have to sit until June".
Machinery
The machine park is extensive and fits well to the size of the company. Apart from driving manure, sowing carrots and beets and harvesting them, they manage everything themselves. The reason for this is that they want to be independent with their planning. They also have a lime spreader, which is also used for third parties. The main tillage is plowing and spading. Plowing is done after the green manure and the spading machine is brought out after the cultivation of potatoes, beets, onions and carrots. Hogenhout also has a reel and fresh water that is certainly used in dry periods.
Robin Winter
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