'We prefer to take the risk of the free market'

Gewastour participant Jacky Dieleman lives in Philippine in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, in the middle of the Braakmanpolder. This is one of the youngest polders, created when the Braakman, a former sea arm of the Western Scheldt, was drained in 1952. It was at that time that Jacky's grandfather was given the opportunity to start a tenant farm.

The company was later taken over by Jacky's father, after which Jacky also joined the company. For a while they also ran a contracting company, mainly active in chicory cultivation. When chicory largely disappeared from the region, they started to focus entirely on arable farming. In addition, there is still a farm shop at home. In recent years they have started farming more intensively. He now works from home about 75% of the time and farms on about 70 hectares. 
 

Water as a condition for yield
For eight years now, we have been able to irrigate, says Jacky. That has become essential. "You can get a high price, but if you have no yield, you still have no balance." They use a small freshwater bubble and irrigate with about 30 cubic meters per hour. That has to be done carefully, because the supply is limited, says Jacky. He is grateful to the province for the air measurements with which they mapped out where fresh water is.

Last year they not only suffered from drought, but also from flooding. Thanks to provincial support they were able to have 10 hectares drained. Because the area is a relatively young polder, there are places that have subsided and are no longer level. The fertile layer is only 30 centimetres deep, with sand underneath. "Actually the land needs soil improvement, but that is something for the future," he says. That is why he sees more in deep digging, where the current cultivation layer is mixed with 10 centimetres of sand. The current drainage pipes have been there for fifty to sixty years, and that is starting to take its toll. In order to improve the water drainage, they want to dig a piece of the ridge every year to close the deepest holes.

Growing strategy with risks
The risks in agriculture have only increased in recent years. Jacky sees the costs for a hectare of potatoes double. "My grandfather used to say: you need 100.000 guilders to keep the company going. I think you can at least quadruple that amount now."

At Dieleman's farm, they grow both onions and potatoes. For the onions, they choose Hybound and Centro, two early varieties with strong roots. The Gewastour plot is 5 hectares and is located on light loam soil. It is dug in the winter and then worked with a rotary harrow.

In the past, Jacky regularly had problems with thick necks in the onions, something he attributes to sowing too late. "Then the period until the longest day is too short and the growth rhythm of the onion is disrupted. Sowing early is really important for the quality." He stores a part of his onions, depending on the market price. "If the price from the field is good, then we sell immediately. But if you want to participate in the free market, you can also profit from an outlier."

At Dieleman they consciously choose to grow freely, because according to them contract prices are often not cost-covering. "Only if you get extremely high kilos, it can pay off. Then we prefer to take the risk of the free market." We would like to build a crate storage, so that we can store longer, but that is still a pipe dream at the moment.

Lease prices are so high these days
What Jacky really finds hard to understand is that the Dutch state offers leased land by tender. It is not focused on region or nationality, but simply on the highest bidder. In the past, when a tenant stopped, the land was divided among the other tenants. According to Jacky, that is still the only way to expand. If everyone simply pays the same price, you kill two birds with one stone, according to him: it is fairer and the land is better cared for. Because when leased land is reissued after termination, it is often only for two or six years. And then it is simply less well cared for, because there is no long-term vision behind it, he says. 

"These days, the lease prices are so high that you do everything you can to get the highest yield in a short time and squeeze the most out of the soil. That's a real shame. It's short-term thinking." Jacky also sees that the government often lacks knowledge about good soil management. For example, if you indicate that you want to grow a rest crop for two years, you are told that it is not allowed, he says. "While that is actually much better for the soil." 

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