'I don't want to wait for the last kilos'

Daan Tap runs a 165-hectare arable farm on the Gelderland river clay. His crop plan is spacious, with a rotation of one in seven for potatoes and onions. He also grows winter wheat and winter barley. They have been farming in Elst, Gelderland, for eleven years now, he says. He took over the company in December 2022, after having been in partnership with his father for ten years. Initially, he did not have the ambition to go into the business. "After my adventure abroad, I started to look at it differently."

To gain experience, he first worked for a year at an arable farming and contracting company in Germany. Later, he spent another seven months in New Zealand. "I learned a great deal there. I would recommend everyone to look outside the Netherlands for a few years first. You learn to be independent there and it gives you a broader perspective." At the home farm, only grain was grown for a while. "When I came back, we started growing potatoes again in 2014 and onions a year later."

For the Gewastour potatoes he uses a thirteen-hectare plot where barley used to be. "We have been dragging hoses on the plot, spreading compost, sowing a green manure and then ploughing." For the cultivation of potatoes and onions he uses barley as a standard fore-crop. He usually stores Innovator potatoes until mid-April, while the Agrias remain in the shed until June. He grows partly freely, partly under contract. "Last year I had 40% under contract, but next year I have secured more. The contract prices have been good in recent years. This way I know for sure that I can earn money with potatoes." 

Phytophtra is challenging
He is worried about the cultivation technique. "It is not going to be easy to deal with the disease pressure of Phytophthora", he says. "I do not feel comfortable spraying so often, because the agents are becoming less and less effective. If even more agents disappear, it will become really difficult." He uses a decision support system via an app. "This indicates when I have to drive. In the past I did that by feeling, then you sometimes saw leaves in the crop. Last year I kept the crop clean, partly thanks to the system."

He thinks the biggest risk in cultivation is the harvest risk. "The soil here is heavy, so I want to be able to harvest early. Fertilizing a little leaner helps the crop die off sooner. I don't want to wait for the last kilos."

He does not see organic cultivation as a real added value. "That is mainly a marketing story," he says. "If you really want to be distinctive, you have to cultivate biodynamically. But I do not necessarily find that distinction between natural and chemical agents logical. As if a natural agent is less harmful than a chemical agent."

Looking forward to the harvest
Of the entire growing season, he finds the harvest the most beautiful, especially the wheat threshing. "Then you see what you have worked for all year. That remains a wonderful moment." What motivates him is to produce a good product for a fair price. "And of course the most beautiful profession in the world is to work with nature."

He hopes to continue in the same way, although he is concerned about housing and industrial estates. He sees the future of agriculture changing. "AI and robots will play a big role later. Machines will become increasingly smarter."

He is concerned about agricultural policy. "The Netherlands is one of the strongest agricultural countries in the world, but we have to maintain that. The government should not destroy too much by banning more and more resources and further lowering the manure standards. That way we cannot maintain production."

© DCA Market Intelligence. This market information is subject to copyright. It is not permitted to reproduce, distribute, disseminate or make the content available to third parties for compensation, in any form, without the express written permission of DCA Market Intelligence.