Innovative crop alongside traditional arable farming

Hubert Linders is the third generation on his farm. Twelve years ago, he sold his location to the municipality, where he had a greenhouse with strawberries and pigs. After the sale, he decided to focus entirely on arable farming, which had always been his passion. It gave him more independence and he also knew then that he had no successor. The transition felt like a logical choice to him.

In recent years, he has started thinking about sustainable cultivation and innovative crops. For example, he recently started growing the Paulownia tree, also known as the Kiri tree. This tree grows extremely quickly and therefore absorbs a lot of CO2. What makes it special is that it can regrow up to five times from the same planting. Because the Paulownia is considered a crop and not forestry, Hubert sees a future in it and has decided to grow it organically. 

In addition to sustainable crops, traditional arable farming remains important to him. Onion cultivation is a good example of this. This year he is growing the Summit variety, an older variety that he hopes will perform well. Last year he had Hyroad, and although that was not disappointing, he finds it difficult to determine whether the results were due to the variety or the weather conditions. He previously worked with High Five, which he also liked. He has been growing onions since 2016, before the cultivation became really popular in his region. He saw potential in his soil and finds it an educational cultivation with both good and bad years. 

Challenges in crop protection and water management
Crop protection remains a challenge, both with herbicides and fungicides. Another major risk for the crop is waterlogging. Due to the differences in height in his soil, this remains a problem, although he has insured himself against this in recent years. Drainage is an option, but must be level-controlled. Although most of his land is drained, some areas remain difficult, especially where there is peat in the ground. These areas remain wet and offer little support. There are also misconceptions about irrigation, he notes. "People always say that irrigation is pointless when there is a strong wind and the sun is shining, but that is nonsense. When the water comes from the source, it is so cold that it does not simply evaporate. So it does work."

In order to better deal with crop protection and precision agriculture, he invested in a wing sprayer four years ago. This system achieves 99,9% drift reduction, but also has disadvantages. "You have to use a very fine cap of 015. Especially with onions, a coarser cap is sometimes needed to prevent fire damage. That means I have to adjust the dosage and use about two-thirds of the normal amount of agent."

Future of agriculture and business succession
What concerns him is the buy-out scheme and the future of the agricultural sector. "In my area, many companies are closing down, especially the big ones. That's a shame. We had a great sector and we're doing well worldwide, but here everything seems to have to disappear. This has been going on for forty years and now it's really happening." 

Yet he also sees opportunities. "Biobased crops such as fibre hemp and flax are becoming increasingly popular. The Netherlands is always the best boy in the class in agriculture, but the rules here are sometimes too strict compared to other countries." However, the uncertainty about legislation makes it difficult to make plans for the future, he thinks. "You want to invest, but if the government changes the rules, that can turn everything upside down. The government is unreliable and that makes long-term decisions risky."

He has no intention of stopping his own company anytime soon. He would like it if someone would take it over and sees a future in the Paulownia trees. Stopping at 67^e he doesn't like it, he wants to continue until he is 75^e, although he would then scale down. "If there is no successor, I would rather give it to a young farmer than a large company."

© 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.