CULTIVATION AND TECHNOLOGY Storage heart of the enterprise FARM INFORMATION Marien and Joos Poppe grow their organic produce on 140 hectares. In addition to 28 hectares of seed potatoes of the Agria, Ditta and Toluca varieties, the brothers also grow carrots, onions, chicory and 9 hectares of Alfalfa. This year, the partnership has invested 1.5 million euros in a storage place for 4,000 boxes. two sets of fifty strains. They are pre-sprouted in special trays which are planted and harvested by hand. ‘It’s important to supply disease-free material for, among others, the organic consumption growers of Bioselect. We can’t leave the seed potatoes in the field for too long anyway, because of the danger of Rhizoctonia’, Poppe explains. Hissing valve ‘Around mid November, when the potatoes are dry and lie dormant, we start grading. Our own planting stock is put in Joppe bags, and the seed for Bioselect goes back into storage. The delivery is available on call for in the spring’, says Poppe. Just as he comes down the spacious steps, a small pressure valve starts hissing. The compressor pumps air into the balloons for a few seconds via a pressure control valve, which makes sure you have the necessary blockage for another half day’, Maerman tells us. ● Jaap Delleman ventilation. starts in the winter. We pre-sprout the seed potatoes already in February. For this purpose, we’ve constructed a wide central corridor in the new store with a large skylight. It’s often too cold in February to put the seed outside in the Joppe presprouting bags. We can now start pre-sprouting whenever we like, because there’s sufficient light and we can play a bit by opening the two doors at each end of the corridor to boost sturdy sprouting. An additional advantage is also that we can now load potatoes indoors without any problem. Lorries enter the store on one side and leave on the other end. Pre-sprouting is important because we want to start planting early to have sufficient growing days. The strategy didn’t work very well this year, because the spring was very cold and there was no space to keep them inside. Growing your own stock To supply high-quality organic seed, the Poppe brothers cultivate their own stock. The first year, the brothers started with Because the air inlets and outlets are at different places in the store, it is easy to work with heating elements. Potato World 2013 • number 1 23 Pagina 22
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