Dutch Crop tour potato - week 22
Problems continue to pile up for potato growers
The spring of 2024 will be one that will be long remembered by potato growers. The work comes in fits and starts and one challenge after another piles up. On the one hand, growers are losing planted potatoes due to rot, while elsewhere growers still have to cultivate plots where the plants have been growing for a long time. In addition, the high phytophthora pressure, with outbreaks already found on many plots, is added.
Almost all of the agricultural Netherlands has had to endure the heavy rainfall this spring. It does not suddenly come out of the blue that this spring was the wettest year but one. Only 1983 was wetter with an average of 282 millimeters. According to Weeronline, an average of 265 millimeters fell in the Netherlands, compared to the normal 157 millimeters. In many places in the Netherlands it was the wettest spring ever measured, especially the southern regions. May was also exceptionally wet with an average of 122 millimeters. With that data, it is not surprising that potato planting takes so much effort and is delayed.
Problems pile up
In addition to not being able to plant potatoes, growers encounter other problems in cultivation. The heavy rainfall takes its toll on the ridges and rotten potatoes can be found in both low and good places in the field. A tour of growers at the Dutch Crop tour potatoes makes it clear that some water damage can be seen on many plots. Sometimes these are small spots on the headlands and lower areas, others indicate that 10% or more is rotten. In addition, the small plants grow very fast with the high moisture and temperature. As a result, many growers have not yet had time to mill the potatoes, while many potato plants have reached a stage where milling is no longer possible. Growers also indicate that they clearly see that cut seed potatoes rot more quickly in wet conditions, causing a plot to become 'hollower'.
Kees Trouw, potato grower in Hellevoetsluis (South Holland), indicates that as a grower you hardly get a chance in the field with the current weather. "The potatoes are growing very fast and almost all of them are at the top. We have a lot of work to do, because we still have to mill them, but we don't get the chance. The rain keeps piling up. Then another 20 millimeters, then another shower. It doesn't have time to sink." Trouw does not expect to be able to mill in the coming days either. "Hopefully next Wednesday or Thursday, but in the meantime the crop is growing very fast." Trouw has adapted the ridge milling machines by removing the top where the potato plant is located.
Who also thrives under the current weather conditions: phytophthora, the next problem for growers. According to BO Akkerbouw, the fungus has been detected in several places in the country. Growers are busy spraying, but due to the heavy rainfall this is sometimes impossible or impossible and it literally leaves deep marks on the plots. Moreover, you have to be on top of the tough crop growth. "The crop grows so fast, you have to spray every 3 or 4 days to get the new foliage covered," says another grower.
Second phytophthora spraying a fact
In Voerendaal (Limburg), potato grower Ruud Steinbusch sprayed his second phytophthora spray of the season on his plot this week. The driving conditions are just not that good with the saturated ground. Potato grower Daan Tap also carried out preventive spraying on the plot against phytophthora in Elst, Gelderland. He indicates that the crop is growing extremely fast in this weather. In addition, the water damage is not too bad, despite the fact that 158 millimeters of precipitation fell in May. "We do have a bit of damage on the headland and there will be quite a bit of yield loss, but fortunately no damage is visible across the field."
It is now clear that the water damage this season is not limited to a specific area. Showers also continue to pass in the province of Zeeland, where there was another local shower today. In Zeeland IJzendijke, potato grower Brian Salomé indicates that the potato plants are emerging, but that there is also damage. "I still have to see what exactly the damage is, but in the lower places the seed potatoes appear to be rotten. Occasionally a plant emerges in these places, but sometimes nothing at all. Further across the field, many potatoes are on their way, but also I came across a rotten potato there. I still have some extra seed potatoes, so I might plant the worst parts. But that also means a later harvest and will not benefit the yield. "
Jesse Torringa
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