Dutch Crop tour Martin Derickx
'Year without irrigation is a year with less turnover'
De Boerenbusiness Dutch Crop tour eight plots with yellow seed onions will follow this year. The participating growers take us along with the growth from sowing to harvest and the decisions they make in cultivation. In this series of company reports we introduce them. In the sixth part: Martijn Derikx from Ysselsteyn (Limburg).
The arable farm of the Derikx partnership is located in the heart of the North Limburg village of Ysselsteyn. His neighbors are pig farmers and Martijn Derikx himself is a pig farmer from way back. The family now earns a living from arable farming, contract work in onions and propagating peonies.
Derikx has studied and developed in onion cultivation and grows yellow, red and pink onions. Derikx has several sowing and harvesting machines for onions, where they help other onion growers in the area with the sowing and harvesting.
Irrigation is the standard
The company is located on light soil, which means that a shortage of moisture in the summer quickly occurs. It is nothing more than normal for them that the sprinkler system is running its rounds in the potatoes and onions. Derikx has several reels for this, which he hopes to use every year. If the reels are not needed during the season, this means that there is sufficient moisture: "We know that if we don't have to water all the potatoes and onions, it will be a bad year in terms of price. Then it will grow well everywhere. already in an area where you have to irrigate quickly".
The need to irrigate in this area can also be seen on the Crop Tour plot with the yellow variety Barito. It is not without reason that drip irrigation has been installed on this plot and that comes in handy with the current drought: "The drip irrigation has now been switched on three times with a dose of about 5 to 7 millimeters each time." The seed onions were sown as one of the first at the Boerenbusiness Dutch Crop tour and this can also be seen in the crop stages.
Sow on wider tires
Partnership Derikx also does contract work with its sowing machines. He does this with a tire packer at the front and a kopeg with seed drill at the back. This makes it possible to drive on wider tires while sowing two beds of 1,50 or 3 meters. Without getting driving tracks between the beds. On the sandy soils, it is possible to sow over the plow cuts in one pass by using the kopeg. In the case of heavier soils, soil preparation must be carried out before Derikx can work.
Another contractor comes by for the sowing and harvesting of the beets and for the harvest of the potatoes. For the peonies, there is a converted AMAC potato harvester, which has a smaller pitch. The planting of this crop is done by the peony grower.
'Do what suits you'
You have to do what suits you and what fits in with business operations, is the motto of Derikx. Moreover, no plot is the same and some are easier or more difficult than others. "It is important to get the most out of it, while keeping the work fun", says Derkx. "A plot that is already difficult at the start of cultivation..... You can do your best on it, but if you have to give it a score of 9 or 10, you will not succeed. But you should definitely do your best, because you can only get it right once. But remember that all the costs that you don't incur, you don't have to get it out. You have to do what suits you, if you're a man of 10, you have to don't settle for a 7. Because then you won't feel good about it all year round."
Robin Winter
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