Soaking wet spring seen again on the harvest mats

The past week has seen significant progress in the potato harvest. Several potato growers in the Boerenbusiness Crop tour have harvested their Innovators, with the comment that the wet spring is clearly reflected in the yields. In addition, there was also haste because of the large amounts of rain that were expected earlier. Harvest 2023 is still fresh in the memory.

The participating potato growers of the Boerenbusiness Crop tour has made good progress in the past week and days with the potato harvest. The plots with Innovators are largely out of the way and the first ones are even completely finished. For example, grower Daan Tap from Elst (Gelderland) has already harvested his entire area and his colleague Kees Trouw from Hellevoetsluis (South Holland) also harvested all the potatoes behind the planks last weekend. Jacob Branderhorst also harvested the last piece of Innovator last week.

Wet spring to be seen again
Potato harvesting also went smoothly for potato grower Wouter Vierboom in Leuth, Gelderland. He drove his Gewastour plot inside last Friday. "The harvesting actually went under super good conditions, I have nothing to complain about. I am also reasonably satisfied with the yield of that plot, despite the growing season. The potatoes have become very coarse and that is also to be expected on this soil. That does not apply to every plot, I also have lesser plots." Vierboom also says that they have made progress because of the weather. "You never know what will happen at this time of year". The yield is expected to be over 50 tons per hectare.

The wet spring does take its toll and is still clearly visible now with the harvest, says Vierboom. "We do have places with a poor planting due to the heavy rainfall. The yield is disappointing there and that pulls the average down. You can also see the smaller ridges from the potato planting in the earthed up ridges. That is due to the heavy rain we had between planting and earthing up, which created a hard layer. That did bring some clods with it when harvesting. It is a very typical picture, which I see in more of our plots."

The Innovators in the barn at Wouter Vierboom, Leuth.

In Leuth the potatoes have length this year.

Don't touch my long-term average yield
In Hellevoetsluis, not only the Innovators, but also the other varieties are already in the shed. "We harvested the last ones on Sunday, so I have everything in now", says potato grower Kees Trouw. "When we started, the wet conditions were tight. That made harvesting slow, but with two harvesters it still goes fast. Over time, the harvesting conditions came closer to us and it went better."

Trouw, like his other colleagues, indicates that the wet spring has cost tons. "The quality is good, but the yield is not much this year. In the places where potatoes have drowned and a radius around it, you are simply missing kilos. I am not reaching my long-term average yield", Trouw is clear. He saw that the Innovator variety had a harder time with the heavy rain than, for example, Agria. "Innovator is more of a young lady with all the water. If it has been wet and they have stood with their feet in the water, they have more trouble with that than, for example, Agria."

Trouw also notices a few things in the size sorting. "The coarseness is there, because they are thick tubers, but the length is simply not there this year. They are thicker and rounder. For the buyer that is less positive, they need length. However, the length is partly compensated by a higher number of tubers this year."

In IJzendijke (Zeeland) the Innovator was also harvested last weekend. According to potato grower Brian Salomé the harvesting went well. "The harvesting went quite well. In terms of clods it was not too bad and everything is neatly inside. We started on Thursday and everything was out by the weekend. Earlier they predicted a lot of rain so you want to have it on the side then too." According to Salomé the yield is not good because of the wet spring. "The water did cause damage this spring, but that's just the way it is. Fortunately everything is inside. We have also been busy sowing. Everything we wanted to sow has already been sown so that is also going well."

Jesse Torringa

Jesse is an editor at Boerenbusiness and focuses in particular on the arable farming sector, including grain and onions. He also closely follows the fertilizer market. In addition, Jesse works on an arable farm in Groningen with seed potatoes as the main branch.

j.torringa@boerenbusiness. Nl

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