Dutch Crop tour onions - week 37
Many onions already in the swath, peak activity next week
The onion growers have already made considerable progress with the onion harvest before the precipitation this week. Quite a few onions are in the swath and the first ones were loaded shortly afterwards. From the weekend, when the soil is suitable again after the precipitation, the onion harvest is expected to accelerate.
The precipitation this week was a spoilsport for the onion harvest for some growers, while it was very welcome for others. The ground was again too hard to harvest onions properly without damage. During a tour of the onion growers of the Boerenbusiness Dutch Crop tour it turns out that up until the beginning of this week, before the precipitation started, quite a few onions were harvested. In the meantime, 5 of the 10 participating growers have harvested the onions. The first batch is already in the behind the scenes at David de Wit in Lepelstraat in North Brabant.
Last Monday, onion grower Peter Holster from Marknesse (Flevoland) harvested the last part of his plot, because it had to be done in stages due to some showers. "We were a bit unlucky with the rain last weekend, which meant we couldn't harvest everything after we had started. Then another shower came in between. It wasn't much, but it did stop the work. In the end, we managed to do that on Monday and now everything is in the swath."
The yield is somewhat disappointing for Holster, compared to his earlier expectations. "The plot has been doing well all year and when I see the swath now, I am disappointed. I expected a higher yield, although of course it is not yet in the box. The foliage was long and the growth was good. Towards the end, the crop did deteriorate quickly and started to wear out quickly. It is a coarse batch, but I expected more from it at first."
In addition to Holster, onion grower Jan Berend Biesheuvel from Zeewolde (Flevoland) also harvested his onions last Monday. He is quite satisfied with what he sees in the swath, considering this late and special growing season. "We started harvesting the crop tour plot on Monday, but it will be a while before we start loading. We have already had a lot of rain in the past few days, so that will probably happen in the course of next week," Biesheuvel said earlier this week. Zeewolde was also not skipped by the showers in the past few days and a considerable amount has already fallen. "The swath is not disappointing to me considering the growing season, but we will only really know when it is in the box."
Arjen Jakobs from Wezup (Drenthe) also harvested his crop tour plot last week under still dry conditions. According to Jakobs, the onions have grown a lot better in other years than this year, certainly compared to the previous growing season.
Onion grower René Haaijer, who in addition to his own onion cultivation also does a lot of contract work in the northeast of Groningen and Drenthe, was already busy with the onion harvest before the rain. But here too, the rain will keep things quiet until the weekend, he says. "We already did a lot of work with the onion harvest before the rain. This week we are at a standstill again, because we had a lot of millimeters. But next week it will be dry again and the harvesting conditions will be good again. Then the onion harvest will go fast."
Jesse Torringa
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