‘Certification keeps you sharp’ CULTIVATION AND TECHNOLOGY T he farm of brothers Gijs and Jaap Bos is the second visit today of Control Union Inspector Arie Maris. Gijs Bos is already waiting for him outside. The brothers have just completed the seed onion and seed potato harvests and it’s still too early to start lifting the consumption potatoes. From that point, the inspection is right on time. Maris starts almost immediately. He first walks to the pesticide storage cupboard, in front of the shed. That all looks fine, is Maris’ quick conclusion. He specifically checks whether the powders are above the fluids, that there are no porous shelves in the cupboard, that there is a bucket of sand or cat-litter grit ready and that there’s running water within a 10 m distance. He only remarks that there aren’t any scales. They are apparently somewhere else in the shed. Something for later. Crisps potatoes voluntarily included in GlobalGAP As Maris had already carried out an inspection on this farm at an earlier time, he walks fairly quickly through all the buildings. Apart from the pesticide storage cupboard, routine jobs during his GLOBALGAP ZOOMS IN ON WORKING CONDITIONS New in the GlobalGAP certification is GRASP, which means Risk Assessment on Social Practice. This component zooms in on the working conditions on the farm; items that are inspected are the number of hours that employees work, whether there is a complaints represeantative, whether breaks are sufficiently observed, whether there is a proper canteen, whether the correct employment contracts are in place, and more of this type of thing. The certificate doesn’t lay down requirements over and above the statutory minimum. GRASP is not an obligatory component and has only been applied in the vegetable sector so far. For mushrooms and asparagus, for example; sectors that have recently been compromised on account of faulty working conditions. Logically, they are mainly focused on businesses with a lot of foreign labour. The average crop farm probably won’t have to deal with it much. And yet, there are already known cases in organic farming, where potato growers are already testing the GRASP component. visit to the farm are rodent control, the field crop sprayer and the cold storage. As the Bos brothers have GlobalGAP certificates for onions, cabbage and tulips as well as potatoes, Maris has to keep an eye on many things at the same time. ‘We visit many different companies, which means that, based on experience, we observe very quickly whether things are alright or not. Moreover, I’m a crop grower myself, which makes things even easier. We have three hours per Audit, which means that we can’t go over everything with a magnifying glass.’ He goes outside with Bos, and they walk towards a field with Arsenal crisps potatoes destined for Frito-Lay. The haulm is on the way down, but it’s still a bit too early to kill it. Bos hopes that the underwater weight will go up a bit more. The crisps manufacturer doesn’t yet require GlobalGAP, so, in principle, it’s still sufficient to have a VVAK (Food and Feed safety) certificate. To make things easier, however, he has voluntarily added his potatoes to the GlobalGAP scheme. What exactly is Maris checking during his tour of the fields? ‘There isn’t a lot to see, really. We’re especially alert when a plot is situated along a road, because of possible pollution,’ But that’s not the case here. Yet, Maris has to make a point here. On the wheat stubble field next to the plot of potatoes is a dung heap that’s too close to the ditch. ‘According to the law, it’s okay because the dung heap is five metres from the ditch. But according to the GlobalGAP requirements, that distance must be at least 25 metres.’ Be practical ‘We visit many different companies, which means that, based on experience, we observe very quickly whether things are alright or not. Moreover, I’m a crop grower myself, which makes things even easier’, according to Inspector Arie Maris (l). In the canteen, Bos has a stack of files ready for Maris. Provided with the Wi-Fi code and a mug of tea, the inspector checks the long list of items to be addressed. He wants to see everything from delivery notes for crop protection chemicals to the contents of the first-aid kit and from the identity papers of the employees to the spraying licences. It doesn’t take long before Bos produces the requested documents from the stack Potato World 2015 • number 2 33 Pagina 32
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