P ot a t o w o r l d CONTENT: Journal for the Potato sector • number 2 • 2016 Breeding is prohibitively expensive > page 4 7 PW-Actua 10 Stet Holland takes over seed potato activities of KWS Potato 13 Potato Europe has become a world-class business gathering 18 Potato Business School Emmeloord (PBSE) has been filling the knowledge gap for five years 29 Smart Farming is still a matter of trial and error 35 EAPR offers in-depth knowledge meeting 41 Everything is about flexibility in a modern seed potato business 45 Record breaking potato trade in 2015 49 The World of PotatoResearch 50 PotatoWorld dish 50 PW Agenda Chinese processing approaching 88 million tons > page 21 Only knowledge about a plot determines the results Without history, there’s no future. I was thinking about this well-known saying after the session about Smart Farming. It seems to me that with the introduction of new technologies, the solutions for cultivation problems are being sought in the equipment. This focus on appliances may be easily explained. Mechanisation has contributed a lot to the farmer and offered potato growers the opportunity to expand. But now that the new era of Smart Farming should be ripe for application, it transpires that growers must go back to the past. And information about the plots is of great importance here. Differentiation within plots means that applying more or less fertiliser on part of the crop doesn’t always lead to higher yields or top quality. It appears, for example, that a part of a field has no lack of nutrients but that, a long time ago, there used to be a ditch there, or there may be a completely different reason for variations. It’s like walking through Emmeloord with the map of The Hague to find your way. That’s not going to work. To be able to take the right decisions, you not only need to know how to work with a map, but you should also know something about the past. This type of old farm information is usually known or, if not, can be quickly retrieved before starting to use Smart Farming technology. But on leased plots, things may be a little more complicated. This will definitely make sure that the computer isn’t going to replace the grower where our sometimes very varied farm plots are concerned. Our experienced farmers will continue to go into the field, also in the future, to expand their knowledge about their plots. And they will definitely use GPS as an aid to be sure of a good future for their crops. Jaap Delleman Potato World 2016 • number 2 3 Pagina 2
Pagina 4Interactieve digi vakblad, deze clubblad of uitgave is levensecht online geplaatst met Online Touch en bied het online uitgeven van digi-lesboeken.
Potatoworld 2016/2 Lees publicatie 40Home