Dutch Crop tour potato - week 40
Rain does not spoil the harvest for every grower
Despite the rain showers, several growers of the Boerenbusiness Dutch Crop tour their Innovators harvesting last weekend. The differences in conditions are great. Others have to wait for drier days or until the potatoes are sufficiently hardened.
It just depended on where and when the rain showers fell and have fallen. For one grower it has become much too wet to be able to work in the land, for another potato grower the harvesting conditions were super after the rain. A start has therefore been made in various places and, following the plot in Dronten, more plots have been harvested.
Good harvesting conditions
In Elst, Gelderland, the Innovators of the Gewastour plot were harvested on Saturday and Sunday. That was ultimately a little earlier than potato grower Daan Tap had expected. "The weather initially did not look like we could harvest, but that changed so we could already start this weekend." In total, more than 27 millimeters fell last week, while double that was previously expected in Elst.
According to Tap, the potato harvesting went satisfactorily. "I have little to say about the harvesting conditions. Actually, it harvested perfectly. Some clods of course, but that's not really worth mentioning. It was certainly not too wet either. We needed the rain, because otherwise it would have been on the dry side." According to him, traces of the wet spring or abundant precipitation were very limited in the plot.
Still too dry last week
At the Gewastour plot in Hank (North Brabant), potato harvesting was already started at the beginning of last week before the rain fell. However, it had to be stopped because it was (still) too dry, as Jacob Branderhorst said last week. "We hesitated for a while, but we did start harvesting. We did a few hectares and then stopped anyway. It was too dry at the top of the ridge and we had quite a few clods, which caused damage to the potatoes. You want to do something because time goes by and you also think back to last year, but we have to be patient." Today (Monday 30 September) the harvester is back in the field and will continue harvesting until it starts raining again today.
Harvesting in stages
The Gewastour plot has also been harvested in Voerendaal, Limburg, although the weather there was the big spoiler last week. The harvesting took place in several stages. Last week, a start was made on the plot, but it soon had to be stopped due to the large amount of precipitation that fell. Later that week, it was restarted, but it was not ideal, says potato grower Ruud Steinbusch. "At a certain point, it was too wet and we had too much soil with the harvesting. That is why we tried again later. It is difficult to sift."
Lotte Steinbusch also says that the soil is stiff after this season. "The soil is quite stiff and pressed in from all the rain this season. That doesn't help with the harvesting. The yield seems okay, although it is a nice batch because of the many potatoes on one plant."
Jesse Torringa
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