Crop tour potatoes - week 38
First Innovators harvested, now patience is required
The first potato plot of the Crop Tour has been harvested and the Innovators are behind the planks. Other growers also want to start harvesting in the short term, but have to be patient now that the beautiful late summer weather is changing considerably. The moment of haulm killing has been in almost all the plots followed.
"The harvesting conditions are good and the plot was ready to be harvested" says potato grower Adriaan Wortman from Dronten (Flevoland) during the harvesting. Last Tuesday they started harvesting their Gewastour plot and before the weekend the entire plot was taken out. All Innovators have been stored.
The plot in Dronten was the first of the participating plots to be cleared Boerenbusiness Crop tour. Considering the planting dates, the harvesting time is not so bad, because the potatoes went into the ground on April 14 - despite the wet spring - which meant that the crop died earlier than the average plot this year. Already at the first trial harvesting in week 32, the wear and tear was already quite high and the crop was on its way out. In that week, the net yield of the plot amounted to 60,1 tonnes per hectare. According to Wortman, some more growth occurred, but not much more. "The crop and the stems remained green for a while afterwards, but the real growth had stopped. I think that the kilos that grew were therefore not too bad".
While storing the potatoes, Wortman notices something else. "The size of the potatoes does differ per location in the field. Now on the conveyor belt you see really big potatoes with length and fewer small ones, while that was different. So there is a real difference in yield on the plot."
Have patience
The other Gewastour plots are not yet ready to be harvested and those growers also seem to have to wait a while. Only the plot in Hank (North Brabant) will be harvested before the rain, although according to potato grower Jacob Branderhorst it remains to be seen how dry the soil is again. On a large part of the plots, the first time defoliation was applied was only last week and a smaller part is even still a bit green. Some hoped, also considering the calendar and their soil type, to start harvesting their Innovators at the end of September or beginning of October.
The weather change expected in the coming days, however, is putting a spanner in the works. Quite a bit of rain is expected and as a result, harvesting will be postponed until early October anyway, provided the weather forecasts come true of course. For most growers, Innovator is only the first variety they can harvest and some have a considerable area. Several participating growers indicate that they do not fancy the scenes of last season and quickly think back to that, although a weather forecast can change again and October is still a while away.
Jesse Torringa
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