Stammen’s quality table potatoes all year round CULTIVATION AND TECHNOLOGY What catches the eye at the door of each storehouse is a stoplight. This light is green when everything is functioning well. for his main crop. In addition to cultivating his own land, Stammen swaps and leases various plots of land within a radius of 15 kilometres around his farm. He irrigated many plots this year, for which the farmers use four modern irrigation systems. ‘In retrospect, I wonder whether all this irrigation this year was such a good idea’, Stammen Sr sighs, because my potatoes have grown a bit too big. Thirty percent of the Melody is over 68 mm and this is even 35 percent for the Milva. Suction ventilation dries quickly In 2002, Stammen invested in a new box storage system, but he then opted for a system of air ventilation. He quickly discovered that this way of ventilation did not have enough drying capacity. “I first had to leave the boxes outside under the roof as long as possible. There was also the problem that, in difficult years, it proved to be a hassle to dry the potatoes properly in the centre of the box. As a result, we often had problems with rot and Silver scurf. That’s why we fitted out the storage unit we’d started using in 2010 with a pressurised suction ventilation system. He is really happy about its effect. “Air ventilation in the storehouse must always be on eight hours a day to cool the potatoes. When we use suction ventilation, this is limited to two hours a day. This makes certain that, with suction ventilation, the storage losses in April can be limited to 4 percent, whilst storeroom ventilation shows losses of around 6 percent. Not to mention the energy ‘used’, says Stammen. “Because we can adjust the rpm of the fans with a frequency control, the use of energy can be reduced even more. Stammen collaborated closely with Mooij Agro from the initial planning to the installation of the equipment. The optimal dimensions were determined together with the contractor. In addition to a storage for boxes, Stammen also invested in a storehouse for bunk products. He stores bulk potatoes in this storehouse until February after which he changes over to box storage. All his potatoes are graded before they are delivered to the various German small packaging companies. The Böhmer company in Mönchengladbach is the biggest buyer of his table potatoes. Potatoes throughout the year For the Stammen family, the potato growing season on the sandy-loam soil already starts in March. That is when they plant the early potatoes of the Berber and Rikea varieties. After that, in early April, the varieties for the main crop are planted. There are three types of varieties: the firm varieties Belana and Antonia, the predominantly firm Milva and Marabelle and the floury Melody. Every year, Stammen buys new category A seed Stoplight for safety What catches the eye at the door of each storehouse is a stoplight. This light is green when everything is functioning well. When entering the storehouse, the light jumps to yellow. As well as being visible outside the building, it is also recorded in the main computer. When fumigation is taking place, the colour jumps to purple and malfunction or failure is red. By the end of October, the potatoes had already started to germinate in the bulk storage. That’s pretty early this year, Stammen points out. He had already fumigated the potatoes in the ventilation storehouse by mid October. Looking to the future, Stammen tells us that his son is ready to take over the company. ‘Whether or not he’ll make another investment in potato storage in eight years’ time will depend on him’, Stammen muses. ● Jaap Delleman An overview of the condition of all the storage cells. Potato World 2012 • number 1 25 Pagina 24
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