Dutch Crop tour potatoes
Exclusive: Innovator's trial harvest figures in line with 2023
The average yield of the Innovator chip potato variety this season remains far behind other years, although the spread between the plots is very large. This is evident from the annual trial harvests on plots of growers in the Netherlands Boerenbusiness Dutch Crop tour. Ultimately, the average yield is in line with 2023, while the weather with all the moisture was a lot more growing this season.
The start of the planting season was late due to the persistent wet weather. As a result, the planting dates are diverse and especially very late. This also makes it look a bit like the 2023 season. Even then, the potatoes went into the ground late in a relatively cold and late spring. This year, potatoes only went into the ground in May. The late planting dates therefore make the 2023 and 2024 harvest years good comparison material so far. There is a strong caveat: the growing conditions between the two seasons vary greatly. May and June had mainly poor weather last year, while this season the wet weather continued. Despite this clear distinction, yields from the trial harvesting are Boerenbusiness has performed close to each other.
Trial harvesting of the Innovator variety was carried out in week 9 on 32 plots spread across the Netherlands. On each plot, three meters of 3 meters have been cleared in different places to get an idea of the current kilos. Like other years, the trial harvest takes place at the same time in order to make better comparisons with other growing seasons. Due to circumstances, no trial harvesting took place on the plot in Dronten of Aeres University of Applied Sciences. Therefore, nine of the ten plots were sampled.
| Location | Net gain (ton/ha) |
Percent weight in 50 mm upwards |
Number of times rained |
Soil type | paw dates |
| Appelscha (Friesland) |
24,1 | 44% | 1 | Zand | May 15 |
| Dronten (Flevoland) |
60,1 | 88% | 1 | Clay | April 14 |
| Elst (Gelderland) |
43,4 | 87% | 0 | river clay | May 2 |
| leuth (Gelderland) |
30,4 | 60% | 1 | river clay | May 12 |
| Hank (North Brabant) |
28,6 | 34% | 0 | Clay | May 12 |
| Hellevoetsluis (South-Holland) |
23,5 | 32% | 1 | Clay | May 11 |
| Kite (North Brabant) |
26,7 | 63% | 0 | Zand | May 18 |
| IJzendijke (Zealand) |
24,6 | 58% | 0 | Sablon/clay | May 12 |
| Voerendaal (Zealand) |
42,6 | 62% | 0 | loess | May 11 |
| Intermediate | 33,8 | 58% |
Yield in tons of kilos per hectare. 15% of the proceeds were deducted due to spray marks, etc.
The spread in yield between the plots is very large, with the timing of planting clearly emerging. Where planting has taken place earlier, a higher yield is measured. For example, the plot in Dronten was already planted on April 14 and thus achieved the highest measured net yield of 60,1 tons. This does not entirely apply to every plot, but on average there is a correlation with the yield in the first trial harvest. Innovator's average net yield in week 32 of the Crop Tour amounts to 33,8 tons per hectare.
Water damage has been found on several plots. Spots have been flooded, replanted or emerged later. That sometimes makes trial harvesting difficult. An additional percentage deduction from the yield is not included in this trial harvest.
| years | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
| Net gain (ton/ha) |
33,8 | 31,6 | 46,6 | 33,7 | 37,6 | 38,5 | 40,3 |
The long-term average is 37,4 tons per hectare, which means that the 2024 growing season is 33,8 tons below that average. It must be said that this is only a trial harvest in week 32. The planting machines entered the field on average late this season. Some years' yields seem high, but in the end the kilos turned out to be disappointing towards the end of the season. This was the case in 2022 and also in 2018, when subsequent growth ultimately disappointed.
Compared to 2023, this season's yield is slightly higher. The planting dates between 2023 and 2024 are approximately the same, although some plots such as Dronten and Elst were clearly planted earlier. In 2023, some were planted slightly later in May. In addition, one plot was replanted on June 10 due to fusarium, which further reduced the average yield. On average, the planting dates this season during the Crop Tour are somewhat earlier than is the case nationally. According to growers, this is due to the fact that Innovator was one of the first varieties to be planted in the ground.
High tuber number, limited kilos
With the growing weather of May, June and July, you expected yields this year to be slightly higher than 2023, given the comparable planting dates and the poor weather of 2023. According to the trial harvest figures, this is not entirely the case, because they are close together. . There are several reasons that influence this. It may have to do with the wet conditions early on that stunted growth. This seems to be the case in some plots or parts thereof, where it was too wet and the tuber was stressed.
What is also significantly different this season is the tuber number. All tubers were not counted per plant during the trial harvesting, but during the harvesting there was clearly a high tuber set and that was also clear earlier this season. Growers confirm that they have significantly more numbers on average this season. More tubers per plant usually means a less coarse size selection in these growth stages. Last season there were fewer tubers on a plant, but the size was there in time. As a rule, large tubers yield more kilos than many. This may be an explanation.
The high tuber formation can also be seen during trial harvests of the crop plots. According to the trial harvest, the plot in Hellevoetsluis has a net yield of 23,5 tons, but has a high number and still has many tubers below and close to 50 millimeters. The Hank plot also has quite a number and has many tubers under almost 50 millimeters. The plot in Voerendaal has a large number and has reasonably large tubers. The plot in Elst also has very large tubers.
Below is an overview of what the tubers look like per plot. What is on the mat is an indication of a random number of tubers, not of one dug meter, for example.
Uncertain further season progress
At the time of trial harvesting, the majority of the plots were still very green. Not all of these are upright anymore and often lie flat, but the wear and tear remained fairly limited, growers indicated. Only the plot in Dronten that was dug up in mid-April has lost quite a bit of foliage and is the most worn out. Other growers indicate that these hot and dry days cause wear and tear on the crop. They see the crop declining. The demand for moisture is high and the roots of the plant are also less well developed than in other years due to the wet year. The weather is not very growing and due to the wear and tear at the beginning of this week, it is uncertain how quickly the crops will deteriorate in the coming weeks.
Aviko trial harvesting shows the same trend
Aviko Potato also announced the latest test harvesting figures this week. This shows a similar trend with the results of the Boerenbusiness Crop tour. According to the potato processor, the gross yield in week 32 will be approximately 36 tons per hectare. That is approximately 5 tons more than in week 31. The 2024 test harvest is several tons higher than that of 2023. Aviko Potato tests plots of different chip varieties every week and thus comes up with an average hectare yield.
The percentage 50 millimeters upward is 32% in week 48, which indicates a high tuber number. The underwater weight has increased in recent weeks and is on average slightly below an underwater weight of 380 grams.
Jesse Torringa
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