PotatoEurope 2017: From precision data to practical recommendations TRADE AND MARKET I NG A t potato Europe, on the last day in March, Mr Aucke van der Werff, Mayor of the Municipality of Noordoostpolder, filled the first planting machine with potatoes from the precision farming demonstration field with seed potatoes from the Innovator variety. The soil with fractions (particles smaller than 0.016 mm) of 36 percent was easy to till under excellent conditions; in short, a good start to the cultivation. Show manager Paulien Hoftijzer tells us that there are over 200 businesses and organisations from at home and abroad attending this edition of PotatoEurope in order to commend their produce or services. These businesses and organisations will be accommodated in pavilions that have a total surface area of over 10,000 m2. To improve the accessibility of the event, a new entrance has been constructed at the location of the CAH Vilentum School Farm Foundation, so that parking for PotatoEurope will be there this year. In addition, there will be more space for trial fields; ten businesses will share their innovations and technical developments with the visitors in these fields. After filling the first planting machine, the Mayor emphasised that the potato is very important for his Municipality and that the over 6,000 hectares of seed potatoes make an important contribution to feeding an ever-increasing world population. That’s why he’d like to put Emmeloord on the map as World Potato City, thus strengthening its international position even further. Together with Agro Food Cluster and several chain parties, the Municipality made out a case to combine the World Potato Congress in 2021 with the next PotatoEurope in the Netherlands. Impartial measuring In practice, there hasn‘t ever been an event where precision farming has been compared with the usual potato cultivation methods on a plot of over 20 hectares. Visitors from the potato sector now have the opportunity to observe the differences in a scientific way. You can’t see a yield difference of 5 percent with the naked eye, but it saves at least 300 euros per hectare.’ To guarantee the impartiality, Pelle is working together with Aeres College in Dronten. Fourth year students Niek Faber and Jelle Knibbe will monitor the plot from planting to lifting. They’ll be supported by Potato Lecturer Peter Kooman, Aeres Training Centre Director Ton Kempenaar, Delphy specialist Herman Krebbers and knowledge partner of the Training Centre, Agrifirm. In addition, there will also be a potato cultivation demonstration in unprepared soil. This section has been planted with the special wide-tread tractor in combination with a Miedema MS 4000 belt planter. The planting machine didn’t require any changes, and could have easily worked wider tracks if the organisation had wanted to work at 3.30 metres instead of the current 3.15 metres. ‘In another section of the plot, we’ll cultivate in the conventional way, whereby the Aeres Training Centre and Agrifirm will serve as the knowledge partners. The third section will then be destined for precision farming with the Case IH system’, Pelle added. In both the conventional cultivation and the precision farming sections, a Grimme GB 430 potato planter has been used. Calculate everything The precision farming project at PotatoEurope already started last autumn, says Pelle. ‘The ground resistance was determined during ploughing. We know that the power loading and the fuel consumption per hectare per hour are the standard for the resistance/structure of the ground. In the Case IH Advance Happy faces at the start of PotatoEurope 2017, with left to right: Ton Kempenaar, Paulien Hoftijzer, Cor van Veldhuizen, Aucke van de Werff and Guido Mangnus. Potato World 2017 • number 2 19 Pagina 18
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