'Proud of the versatility of my company'

Organizing for the sixth year in a row Boerenbusiness the crop tour. Also this year we follow ten arable farmers throughout the Netherlands in their decisions regarding the cultivation of yellow seed onions. In this series of business reports, we introduce the entrepreneurs. This time: Jan Berend Biesheuvel from Zeewolde in Flevoland.

Jan Berend Biesheuvel is taking part in the Onion Crop Tour for the first time this year. In addition to running an arable farm, he is involved in crop care for a bulb grower. Jan Berend Biesheuvel thinks the variety during the season is the best; no season is the same. This keeps growing crops challenging and certainly not self-evident.

Eighteen business and personal questions to Jan Berend Biesheuvel, participant in the Boerenbusiness Crop Tour Onions:

Which onion varieties are grown on the arable farm and why do you grow these varieties?
"I am growing the Dormo (Hazera) and Viggo (Hazera) varieties this year. I am growing the Viggo variety for the first year. I also grow red onions Red Baron and Hybelle. I mainly grow the Dormo for its hardness and skin firmness. It is maybe not the best yield in kilos, but with tare Dormo is always good. The same goes for Red Baron. All the varieties I sow are primed. I have the feeling that primed seed just gives a more even emergence. That also gives its benefit from the weed sprays."

What do you think is the most beautiful crop to grow on your farm?
"I think all three crops are nice to grow, but onions give a little more. I think that is my number 1 crop. But I also find potatoes interesting and beautiful to grow. Ultimately, everything depends on nature. "Two years ago we had fewer hours of sunshine. Then you think the potatoes are growing well, but then the yield was still disappointing. You also wonder: did you do everything you could yourself?"

Are there additional activities on the farm besides arable farming?
"We do crop care, fertilization and handyman services for a bulb grower as contract work."

Chopping or baling straw?
"Both, we have two locations and at one we chop the straw and at the other location it is pressed. The reason we bale on that soil is because I will lose this land to industry in the future. That's why I think it's a shame to to make that investment. Here at the home company we chop the straw and we grow 1 out of 3 wheat. When the straw has been chopped, we spread 25 tons of champost. I notice that because we do that, the soil is easier to work with. we also use 5 tons of gypsum per hectare for workability."

What kind of tillage/fertilization is done at the front of the onion cultivation?
"Ploughing is the main tillage in the autumn. In the spring the soil is prepared with a quick harrow Lemken Kompaktor. We try to prepare the soil in one pass, but sometimes it has to be done in two passes. This year we managed to get through the structure in one pass . The fertilizer is 100 kilos of 18-46 and 300 kilos of Physiomax. With the Stomp spraying 100 liters of Urea. Later in the season I will add nitrogen and potassium."

Fries (french fries) or boiled potatoes?
"Homemade fries from our Agrias."

What is the crop protection strategy in onion cultivation?
"A crop protection plan is drawn up every year. You want to keep the onions clean in terms of weeds, but we don't have to remove the very last weeds. With disease control, I try to keep the interval as short as possible. The crop protection of onion cultivation is has become a lot more expensive in recent years than years ago. The sterile onion fly is used. We also have weekly contact with the adviser. Of course you make a plan in advance, but you never know exactly how things will go due to the weather conditions."

What are your hobbies?
"My biggest hobby is Formula 1."

What are you proud of when you look at the company or cultivation?
"I am proud of the versatility of my company. We are actually busy all year round with all sorts of things and of course also the peak moments. The chip potatoes for example, I think that is very nice, but also delivering onions with a low tare percentage is I am proud, especially if you deliver a very nice, hard onion."

What is number 1 on your bucket list?
"One more time to America or Canada, have a look there and travel around. I always find what they do there very interesting. When I left school I didn't go that way, because I thought: I'll never come more back to the Netherlands. I love the wide surroundings."

What activities are you most looking forward to during the year?
"Sowing and planting, spring, so to speak, is beautiful. But summer is also very beautiful; taking care of the crop and then finally harvesting your product again. That you are busy in the summer and especially in the evening around dusk around the longest day, that's wonderful."

Onions from your own company or onions from the supermarket?
"The yellow and red onions from our own company."

What is the sales strategy of the products?
"The onions are mainly only sold from storage. December to March, April is a time when we sell onions. We store the red onions in boxes and the yellow onions in bulk. We grow all onions freely. there is a delivery agreement, but that is not an obligation. If we do not agree, I am free with it."

What occupation would you have had if you had not been a farmer?
"Truck driver, or working with a big crane."

What do you see as the opportunities and threats for the company?
"I don't have a successor at the moment. I'll just continue to develop the company. I don't see any threats, there are things that you are disappointed that things are going this way, like with the new CAP. It sometimes frustrates that people don't understand how certain things work. How nature actually works. Nature always takes its own course, we as humans can do little to change that. Every season is always different, no year is the same and that makes the work very beautiful It is not so obvious to harvest a good product."

Can the onions be irrigated? If so, what is the strategy you use?
"The onions can be irrigated. We irrigate from the source and on the Meerkoetenweg we irrigate with surface water, but that is on the salty side. My father used to dig a well purely for irrigating. Here at home on the Ooievaarsweg we can also use surface water."

Sun holiday or winter sports?
"To the sun in the winter. Going on holiday in the summer just doesn't fit."

Why are you participating in the Onion Crop Tour?
"I saw a message on Twitter. I've always found it interesting to follow the crop tour. I thought: maybe it would be nice to participate myself and make a contribution. I'm always busy with onions myself. You hear maybe interesting things from others."

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