CULTIVATION AND TECHNOLOGY High-tech field crop sprayer, an excellent piece of equipment for new-style strain development The biggest advantage of the self-prOpelled crop sprayer is the adjustable track width, thinks Claassen. With one push on the knob while driving, he can adjust the wheels to distances between 2.45 and 3.20 metres. can stick to 6 metre headlands, which also provides gains in acreage and quality. Always fixed tracks With his new working methods, Claassen also sees possibilities for keeping the spraying lanes in exactly the same spot each year. Differences in non-planted zones in crops could be remedied by closing the nozzles or by switching the end nozzles, which cover the extra 40 centimetres, on and off. On the other hand, he would have to stop ploughing, because that would mean that the spraying lanes are turned. Because of this, Claassen experimented this year with digging. With its standard working width of 3 metres, the digging machine fits exactly between the spraying lines. This is an excellent example of what is possible in current precision farming. Claassen has not had time to gain experience with the crop sensors. In the short term, he sees the most advantage in giving extra nitrogen based on the measurements. Place-specific farming, a long-term business He would prefer to work more space-specifically, but he knows from experience that that is a long-term business. In 2003, together with his brother Louis, he was the first who experimented with variable planting distances in the Spinoff project. He is also keeping cereal yield cards of most of his plots. And yet, even after all these years of experience, it is still difficult to make the right agricultural conversions. For example, if the yield lags behind somewhere, should one apply more or less nitrogen? ‘You first need to know what factors limit growth, for which you have to examine the soil really well. The next question is how finely-tuned you can and should approach those differences. I’d prefer to be able to apply different dosages from the different sections of the sprayer, but that isn’t posClaassen had the machine equipped with 380/105 R50 tyres. With their 205-centimetre height, these tyres are relatively wide for agricultural wheels but they also have a good contact surface. sible yet’, says Claassen. The crop farmer expects a real breakthrough in precision farming once precise soil scans can be made that accurately and quickly map out the differences in soil composition. ‘There are different techniques available but we’re still just making do with those, I feel.’ Mini tubers in tulip greenhouse As far as cost saving is concerned, in the short-term, the crop farmer from Groningen expects the most from a different source of mini tubers. Together with a group of colleagues, he has made arrangements with a tulip grower nearby. Normally, his greenhouse is empty during the summer and this gave the entrepreneurs the idea of starting to breed mini tubers themselves. Last year they experimented for the first time with several varieties. This produced a positive result. The growers’ aim is to develop the production step-by-step and eventually produce a large number of varieties themselves. Claassen estimates this change would result in a cost saving of 50 percent is, which makes the final change-over to a three-year cropping cycles even easier for him. Claassen’s ultimate aim, in a nutschell, is to combine quality with scale-size. The high-tech field crop sprayer fits that picture perfectly. ● Egbert Jonkheer Potato World 2013 • number 4 19 Pagina 18
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