Soy pool Agrifirm records records

Agrifirm Plant's soybean pool has recorded the highest financial result in 2017 years for the 4 harvest. Yields and protein contents were also at a high level. This broke 2 records.

Agrifirm returns a over 2017 harvest pool price from €529,75 per tonne of soy. This does not include a member benefit of €2,25 per tonne. This makes it the highest payout price in 4 years. Only in the founding year 2013 was the price (at €600 per tonne) even higher. However, then the pool only covered 30 hectares. That was 400 hectares last year.

Multiple records
Over 5 years, the result will be €529,75 per tonne and the average yield last year was 3 tonnes per hectare. That has been a record since the start of Agrifirm's soy project. The best 25% achieved an average of 3,8 tons and 1 grower even achieved 4,2 tons net. According to the customer, that is a national record. At 45%, the highest protein content achieved was also at a record high. On average, this level is 41,6%, which is also very good.

(Text continues below the table)

Agrifirm works together with Alpro for the sale of the soybeans and processing into soy drinks. About 90% of the arctic soy was fit for human consumption; the rest is sold as animal feed. A graduated scale is used with premiums for quality. Those who achieved the desired quality came out at €529,75 per tonne.

The above results in an average balance of €1.589,25 per hectare. With that, it will end up slightly below that of winter wheat. However, the best growers (25%) score a significantly higher balance; 2017 was therefore a good year for the soya bean.

Growing acreage
In 2017, the pool grew considerably in terms of surface area (to 400 hectares). The year before, the surface thinned out hard. However, the Dutch soy acreage still needs to be considerably boosted. Last year, Agrifirm signed a Green Deal with the government. It established the ambition to cultivate 10.000 hectares of soy in the northern provinces.

"In 2018, the pool will again grow in area", says pool manager Arco Amperse. "The exact figures will follow in a later message. The spring has been very good for soy so far. Soy is a very strong crop that can handle both drought and wet conditions well. It can only cope poorly with low temperatures. Spring is therefore good for crop development, although the weather in June is also of great importance."

Niels van der Boom

Niels van der Boom is a senior market specialist for arable crops at DCA Market Intelligence. He mainly makes analyses and market updates about the potato market. In columns he shares his sharp view on the arable sector and technology.

n.vanderboom@boerenbusiness. Nl

© 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.