Innovator revenues lowest in years

Innovator's trial harvest figures illustrate the special growing season of 2023. As expected, the regrowth of the chip potato variety has provided many extra kilos in the last few weeks until harvest. This did not make up for the deficit at the beginning of the growing season. The average yield of the ten plots participating in the Boerenbusiness Crop yield, with a spread of 38 to 66 tons per hectare, is the lowest in years.

The first potato growers of the Crop Tour started harvesting their Innovator plots at the end of September. The crop remained vital longer than in other years due to the later planting dates. Nature simply does not adhere to a calendar, with the result that the growth of some of the growers was somewhat disappointing. At the beginning of October, a lot of work was done on harvesting and it was even on the dry side. The last few weeks have been completely the opposite and only a few potatoes have been harvested. For example, the last plot of the Crop Tour has not yet been completely harvested due to the precipitation.

Innovator has carried out trial harvests on ten plots of land spread across the Netherlands in recent weeks. On each plot, three times 1,5 meters were cleared in different places to get a general idea of ​​the kilos. This was carried out just before harvest, when the crop had stopped growing.

_{*Yield in tons of kilos per hectare. 15% of the gross proceeds were deducted due to spray marks, etc.}

The spread in yield between the plots is large, but there are no real peaks of over 70 tons. That is often the case in other years. Conversely, no very low yields have been measured. As expected, the new growth produces slightly more kilos than in other years, but at the bottom line this growth is somewhat disappointing. Several growers express this opinion. From week 32 onwards, an average of 18,3 tonnes has grown, but the spread is very large between the plots. For example, an additional 32 tons grew in Hellevoetsluis. In Hank it was even 38 tons. This increase can be explained by the fact that the crop continued to grow for a long time after the plot was replanted on June 10 following a heavy fusarium infestation. On other plots, regrowth was disappointing at less than 10 tons per hectare, such as in Elst and Woldendorp.

The average yield is 49,9 tons per hectare, Innovator's lowest yield since the start of the Crop Tour. This means that the average yield is lower than 2018, which was affected by drought and heat. It is important to mention that the 2018 yield was somewhat distorted because many participating plots had been irrigated several times and many of them were heavy clay soils. As a result, the yield was higher than the national average.

Planting dates determine yield
The test harvesting figures show that the plots that achieved the highest yield have also been irrigated the most times. For example, the two plots that achieved the highest yield (Hellevoetsluis with 66 tons and Wouw with 65,5 tons) were irrigated three and four times respectively. The fact that the average yield of plots that are irrigated more often is higher than those that are irrigated less or not at all, is not entirely true this year. The Woldendorp plot yielded 40,3 tons and Steenbergen 38 tons per hectare. However, not every plot had fresh water available.

The planting date is more important to explain the difference in yield. On average, the plots of the Crop Tour were planted one whole month later than in other years and that, in addition to the special growing season, seems to influence the yield. Plots that are planted earliest, or rather least late, achieve a higher yield on average. The IJzendijke, Wouw and Voerendaal plots were planted at the beginning of May and have a yield that is above the average of 49,9 tons. Hellevoetsluis was also planted shortly afterwards. Plots where the potatoes only went into the ground in the second half of May have a yield closer to 40 tons per hectare. Yet the last planted plot in Hank refutes the above statement with its 45 tons per hectare.

Smoother initial development
The growing season on the sandy soil also seems to have gone better this year. Two of the three plots with the highest yield were grown on sand/loess soil. It is obvious that the initial development of the plant at the beginning of the season, during drought, was more successful on the lighter soils than on the heavier soils. This provided an advantage on lighter soils, which was difficult to correct with the drought in May and June.

According to the growers and also from the test harvests, it appears that the size of the Innovator differs per plot this year and affects the yield. There is a correlation with the planting dates, with the plots planted later being less coarse. What also counts this season is the tuber number. On average, this is lower in the Crop Tour than in other years, a result of the special start to the growing season. In addition, growers are reporting more deformed tubers.

Lowest yield in years
The average yield according to the test harvesting figures of the Crop Tour of 49,9 tons per hectare is reasonably close to the 47,0 tons from the CBS harvest estimate. the end of last month has been published. Especially when you consider that this also includes table potato yields, which are usually somewhat lower in kilos. The CBS harvest estimate is virtually the same as the 2022 harvest.

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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