The first parcels of fodder beet from the Boerenbusiness Roughage tour have been harvested. Bert Wissels from Hengelo started the harvest on Monday and on the Ruben Marijnissen plot in Nieuwerkerk the crop was removed from the land on Wednesday. Marijnissen says that he sees smaller beets this year and talks about the smallest yield in 5 years.
Hans Schoenmakers from Udenhout in Brabant also has a plot of fodder beet. He says he will start partially harvesting the beets from mid-September so that he can feed them fresh. Together with a group of farmers from the neighbourhood, they jointly clear a number of hectares once every 2 weeks so that everyone can go ahead for another 2 weeks.
Depending on the weather, the harvest at Schoenmakers lasts until November/December. If the bearing capacity of the soil deteriorates due to rainfall, the remaining number of hectares is cleared. He can then feed these until about April. "The fodder beet does best in the ground and can grow until November," says Schoenmakers.
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