NieuwsuurThe potatoes are not yet ripe enough, farmers say
Marieke Schunselaar
editor Nieuwsuur
Marieke Schunselaar
editor Nieuwsuur
Outgoing Agriculture Minister Piet Adema goes along with the wishes of the House of Representatives. He wants farmers to have two weeks longer to sow a catch crop – which absorbs nitrogen – after harvesting their potatoes. Adema: “We have seen a wet spring, so we now have to harvest later if we want ripe potatoes,” he said after the Ministerial Council.
Potato farmers came out en masse against the new rule that they must remove their crops from the land as of October 1. With this so-called ‘calendar agriculture’ the government wants to improve the quality of ground and surface water. More than five thousand potato farmers had indicated that they would not meet the October 1 deadline.
The new law is not enforceable, says potato farmer Pieter Evenhuis, also director of agricultural organization LTO. “It was invented behind a desk in The Hague.” Due to the bad spring, many potatoes are not yet ready for harvest. “Not even with an extra two weeks.”
The Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality wants to prevent nitrogen leaching with the measure – which applies until 2027. The idea is that farmers harvest their crops in time so that they can sow a ‘catch crop’ on the land before October 1. This is a plant that absorbs nitrogen from the soil and prevents leaching into the groundwater.
Nitrogen
The ministry used October 1 because of scientific research showing that the earlier the catch crop is sown, the more effective it is for capturing nitrogen. Researcher Wijnand Sukkel from Wageningen University & Research underlines this. “If you only sow the catch crops after October 1, they will grow less well and they will also absorb less nitrogen, especially if it doesn’t arrive until November.”
Evenhuis has 400 hectares of land in and around Giethoorn and says it can provide every Dutch person with fries four times a year. He says he has no choice: his potatoes cannot yet be removed from the field. “They are still too soft due to the bad spring. That will also be the case in two weeks,” he says.
Yet we don’t have to worry about fewer fries, says Evenhuis. “I don’t adhere to the new legislation. If I harvest too early, I only keep a tenth of my turnover.” He expects that almost all potato farmers will not have enough of an extra two weeks and will ignore the new deadline en masse.
Potato variety
The Association for the Potato Processing Industry (VAVI) is also not happy with calendar farming. According to director Andries Middel, it is too big a logistical task. “We work with nature. We collect the potatoes from the land and bring them directly to the factory. This happens in stages,” he says. “If all farmers have to collect their potatoes from the field on the same day, we will receive everything at once and we cannot cope with that. Storing potatoes will easily cost us a billion.”
Water pollution by nitrogen from crops such as potatoes is a major problem. “If you want to solve this, it simply involves costs,” says researcher Sukkel. According to him, the responsibility lies with the government, but also with the sector itself.
The fact that farmers cannot yet harvest is due to the weather, but also due to the potato variety the farmer chooses, Sukkel explains. “A farmer can also choose a variety that can be harvested earlier and then store those potatoes. That entails costs, but we increasingly see that these types of costs have to be paid by the polluter.” In addition, he believes, the government should provide an emergency fund in the event of extreme weather.
Alternative
Farmers who do not adhere to the deadline will be allowed to participate the following year remembers (art) the most to use. According to the ministry, this is a mild sanction with relatively few financial consequences. Farmer Evenhuis takes that ‘punishment’ for granted. “Less fertilizer is less bad than harvesting an unripe crop.”
Outgoing Agriculture Minister Adema now seems sensitive to the arguments of the potato farmers, while the European Commission has indicated that the Netherlands may not deviate from the deadline, otherwise Europe will adjust the fertilizer rules for the Netherlands. “We have looked at this carefully. We are dealing with an exceptional situation, so this year we are extending the harvest period. We will continue to discuss with Brussels and also look for an alternative.”
The potato farmers say they will continue to use their common sense for the time being. Farmer Evenhuis is happy that the minister has somewhat repented, but is still unable to work with a calendar: “We are expected to work more with nature. But nature does not adhere to a calendar, but to the again. When a potato is ripe you take it out, even if that is not until November.”
2023-09-29 15:54:48
#Farmers #extra #weeks #potato #harvest
