’I didn’t want to be faced with all kinds of things that don’t work’ CU LTIVATION AND TECHNOLOGY NPPL participant Martin de Meijer: SPREADING RESPONSE Corné Kempenaar is project leader of the Experimental Garden for Precision Farming (NPPL). The project has been running for two years now and interest is increasing, according to the driving force. ‘We started with six participants and were expected to have six more this year, but because of the enormous interest there are now ten. That brings the current total to sixteen.’ ‘It was a bit of a search for the right formula at first. We now think that we’ve hit the right note with NPPL on Tour, through which we organise open days at different locations in the Netherlands, the project leader says. ‘The turnout is good, here at De Meijer we had 140 people signup. The main objective is to bring state-of-the-art precision techniques for the agricultural sector to the attention of the farmer. A few years ago, the government noticed that there was far too little interest in this area and was curious about the reasons for this. As you’ve already heard today, there are plenty of them, from changing legislation to large differences in the supply and operation of the various available techniques. The aim of the NPPL project is to map out the ifs and buts in this field and, at the same time, lower the threshold for the application of precision technology for farmers. I think we’re on the right track here. You can also tell by the reactions we get on the Facebook page, for example. I think the total has already reached 1,200.’ Some provinces give subsidies Another effect that Kempenaar observes is that the authorities of provinces that have NPPL participants are also watching with interest. ‘Some provinces are so enthusiastic that they provide subsidies from sources that often relate to improving sustainability and the environment in the region. For example, the Province of Groningen has indicated that, around the three farmers who are already participating in the NPPL, there should be a larger group of twenty participants to speed up the initiative. The intention is to provide financing for this from the natural gas revenues budget. So you’ll see how the initiative is spreading wider and wider’ Kempenaar laughs. ‘It was a bit of a search for the right formula at first. We now think we’ve hit the right note with NPPL on Tour, says project leader Corné Kempenaar. Continue to use your common sense ‘At first we started from a closer variation, but after five rounds of planting I had so much more seed than usual, that we increased the range a bit. So you have to keep using your common sense in everything.’ The comment that the advisors and the grower had about this was that the technical operation of the equipment used was perfect. Nothing could yet be said about differences in grading and yield at that time (mid-August). The plan is to use the new field crop sprayer for variable haulm killing also. This will be done with the currently still-authorised Reglone, of which variable application is known to be worthwhile, depending on the condition of the haulm. According to Michielsen, it is known to save 20 to 50 percent of product. This is not yet known of the products that will be used next year. According to De Meijer, this type of problem is also a typical example of why voluntary investment in precision technology is not yet a success. ‘Changing regulations often throw a spanner in the works, and farmers are therefore not sure that the new techniques will ever pay off’, he expresses a serious concern. ● Leo Hanse Potato World 2019 • number 4 23 Pagina 22
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