Bart and Johan van der Wekken check the Innovator potatoes. Relating planting distance to soil quality brings them a more even crop.
The edges of the plots also receive a little more nitrogen during planting. When measuring yields, it emerged, in fact, that the edges always lagged behind the rest of the plot. Van der Wek- ken’s explanation for this was that the edges always receive a little less artificial fertiliser de- spite the use of border spreading equipment.
Measuring results Thes Agro has already been harvesting for two seasons with yield measurement equipment on the potato harvester. Van der Wekken explains how this reveals that yield variation within a sin- gle plot is much greater than you might expect. To avoid appearing unreliable, he prefers not to say exactly what differences he has observed. “Let’s just say it can vary between 30 and 100 tonnes per hectare with an average yield of 50 tonnes. And that’s 100 tonnes excluding clods!”
Lower than expected costs The differences form an additional incentive to continue with site-specific crop improvements. Overall, Van der Wekken does not consider the costs as a reason not to go ahead. He estimates the additional investment for a planter that can plant variably, plus the variable dosing of artificial fertiliser and nematicides, to be around € 10,000. Calculate a depreciation peri- od of five years and an area of 100 hectares, and that amounts to € 20 per hectare. It will certainly result in better quality potatoes and a higher yield. The grower is not yet able to say how much higher, as the seasons and plots vary too much. Van Iperen’s objective with this system, over the longer term and with some further development, is to achieve an increase in yield of 10 metric tonnes per hectare. From what Van der Wekken can see,
the delivered batches of chipping potatoes are more uniform and of better quality.
Van der Wekken built an installation on his planter to variably administer Urean.
▶ FUTURE FARMING | 1 November 2018 37
PHOTO: NN
PHOTO: ANTON DINGEMANSE
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