CU LTIVATION AND TECHNOLOGY Successful storage begins in the field The other two stores have been filled up nice and evenly with potatoes that still feel hard and firm at the end of January. Delcourt can also dry the potatoes with heaters for each channel. with other growers in order to get a picture of the situation in Wallonia. Because the PCA in Flanders is also participating in this project, a reliable picture of the overall Belgian potato situation is obtained. Storehouse is ready for the future On the way to the underground channels in the storehouse, Delcourt says, with a big smile on his face, that in January 2016 there was no sign of any store yet. ‘By October 2016, the storehouse was full of potatoes. We were able to achieve this so quickly thanks to the perfect cooperation with our store builder Morti in Drongen. Together with Koen Maes from that company, we analysed our needs and took into account the construction requirements in the rural area. He monitored the entire project from A to Z and pointed out to us Delcourt Agri’s current cropping plan Crop Sugar beet Total crop area (hectares) 40 Chicory 24 Beans 80 Spinach 52 Onions 20 Wheat 65 Peas 5 the important parameters involved in building a modern storehouse. The Dutch company Climanova set up the storage facilities. Delcourt was particularly impressed by the company’s total package, which included the installation of all the controls, the electricity, and the gas pipes for the heaters. Enquiries show that Climanova has built several large units in Flanders. This is the first one in Wallonia. In order to store the potatoes optimally, a fixed pipe network has been installed so that each channel can also be used to heater dry the potatoes. ‘This allows me to respond to all the storage conditions’, says Delcourt. What is striking is that there is no mechanical cooling in the store yet. ‘At the moment, we can keep the potatoes cool well into June with an application of GroStop-basis when storing. Besides, storage with mechanical cooling provides no additional remuneration from our customers, while the cost is higher than when cooling with outside air ventilation’, explains Delcourt. If ChlorineIPC is no longer available for the longterm storage of potatoes – given the European discussion this seems to be only a matter of time – Delcourt can still install mechanical cooling. Because he has a modern storehouse, he can also reliably switch over to other chemical compounds such as Ethylene, 1.4 Sight or Biox-m. Many small plots According to Delcourt, the success of storage starts in the field. He grows his potatoes on 150 hectares of his own land in a 1:5 rotation scheme. ‘It’s important to make the crop rotation not too narrow in order to maintain the soil fertility’, is his view. ‘We often go into the field with the shovel to see what the structure of the soil is like. In order to maintain the structure of the erodible soils in our region, I want to plough as little as possible. Furthermore, we loosen the soil after the crop has been harvested and, if possible, immediately sow a green manure crop. In November, we cut up the green manure with a disc machine. Also, in the spring we want to rotate as little as possible and work the soil with fixed tines as much as we can so as not to make the soil too fine, which helps us prevent soil compaction. When the spring activities start and the seed is planted, the potatoes from the latest harvest are still in storage. The 200 or more hectares of Fontane potatoes that Delcourt succeeds in growing, are grown on some 60 plots of 3 to 4 hectares. Due to the small plots and the limited availability of water, Delcourt is not able to irrigate, which is why he pays a lot of attention to the condition of the soil. In principle, he doesn’t plough his fields. After harvesting the crops, he wants to sow a green manure crop to increase the 38 Potato World 2019 • number 4 Pagina 37
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