Sometimes monthly precipitation on the potatoes and onions

Potato and onion growers who have received a monthly amount of precipitation on their plots in some regions can continue for the time being. In other places little water fell again, but the harvest can be resumed. Which participants in the Boerenbusiness Dutch Crop tour have been skipped so far and who received the most millimeters in the rain gauge?

The potato harvest can finally start for many growers and others can pick up where they left off. Potato growers of the Gewastour who had started the harvest were forced to stop because of the drought. Other growers irrigated the plots so that they could still start potato harvesting. With these growers, the sprinkler system can go back into the barn after the precipitation of the past few days, although in some places the precipitation was nil. In other places, almost a month's worth of precipitation fell in the past 72 hours.

The precipitation in the table is from the past few days to September 8, 13:00 PM. Several potato and onion growers of De Gewastour are very satisfied with the amount of precipitation that has fallen. In Hellevoetsluis (South Holland) the most fell with 64 millimeters, while in Eenrum (Groningen) it is still only meager compared to the rest of the Netherlands with 10 millimeters. It should be noted that the showers there and elsewhere are not over yet. 

Precipitation was spread and gradual in many regions, with the southeast of the Netherlands receiving a lot of precipitation especially last Tuesday on Wednesday (September 6 and 7). Today it was mainly the turn of the middle and the north of the Netherlands. For example, in Appelscha (Friesland) more than 30 millimeters fell this morning (Thursday) alone. Potato grower Rene Mesken therefore indicated that he had to stop harvesting potatoes. A cup full of glass rain fell in the Flevopolder. About 20 millimeters fell there today.

With the current weather forecasts and the recent drought, the harvest can start again in no time. The soil can take a lot and if you dig into the bottom of the potato ridge, you will notice that it is still dry. Onion grower Reinder Hogenhout from Kimswerd (Friesland) made use of the precipitation that had fallen the night before on Wednesday. As a result, the harvesting of his onions went under good conditions. 

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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