Dutch Crop tour Potatoes - week 44
Dry growing season causes unrest in storage
In several potato storage facilities, the first tubers are already sprouting, sometimes less than two weeks after being stored. This is exceptionally early and indicates that the potatoes are fully awake. Sprouts measuring 1 to 3 millimeters are already visible in several storage facilities, something that "normally" doesn't occur until around December.
It's been said many times: it was an exceptionally dry and early spring. Physiologically, the potatoes are almost a month older than normal, says Gybert Doggen from Wouw in Brabant. It hasn't been particularly cold recently, making it difficult to keep the temperature of the potatoes around or below 10 degrees Celsius. Kees Trouw from Hellevoetsluis in South Holland notices that the potatoes are more restless than in previous years. "In my shed, they're still pretty calm, but it's still early to see such eager germinations. There's plenty of ventilation, and it also depends on the conditions under which the MH spraying was carried out."
Dry growing season leaves traces in the shed
However, the MH spraying appears not to be effective everywhere this year. "Even though I sprayed under good conditions, germination continues," notes Daan Tap from Elst in Gelderland. "That's why you have to stay alert and intervene promptly in storage where necessary." Conversely, batches in the north are experiencing much less premature germination.
The conditions during the MH spraying seemed good at first glance. A 10-millimeter downpour every two weeks just before the MH spraying seems sufficient in theory, but the potato roots remained very dry. As a result, MH uptake remained limited, especially in the south and southwest. In the north, where conditions were more favorable, the potatoes of Groningen growers Jan Kolhorn (Uithuizermeeden) and Alex van Erp (Midwolda) remained relatively calm.
Below is a brief look back at how the potatoes arrived in the shed this fall:
The picture varies by region. In the south, bruising is also clearly greater this year. More bruising is being seen in several storage areas than usual, due to high underwater weight and the dry conditions during harvesting. The south and southwest, in particular, suffered from the drought, and this is now also noticeable in the storage areas. Kees Trouw sees clear differences compared to previous years. "My MH spraying probably didn't help optimally. It wasn't an easy year in terms of bruising either. Fortunately, the quality remains within the margins. You see some bruising occasionally, but it's still manageable."
Low potato prices make the choices even more difficult. Additional costs for gas and other inputs are a significant burden. "At this price level, no one wants extra expenses," explains Kees Trouw. Nevertheless, it's crucial that contract kilos are handled properly. Sufficient inventory is available, so quality remains the primary focus. Intervening too late can be very costly due to quality issues.
Irrigating afterwards is a good choice
While it has already been a very wet October nationwide, in retrospect it may not have been a bad idea for growers in the southwest to to irrigate the potatoesUntil at least the second week of October, this was still done out of sheer necessity, because it was too dry to harvest, and growers feared that if it started raining after mid-October, the soil wouldn't dry out sufficiently. And that is indeed the situation we're facing now.
Nationally, October is already too wet, but in the south and southwest, it remains drier than in the rest of the country. Nevertheless, the recent rain has mainly remained in the upper layers, making the fields difficult to access. Irrigation back then—still an emergency measure to get the potatoes out of the ground—may have turned out to be not so bad after all.
Jan Willem Veldman
© 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.
