The Haanstra partnership in Luttelgeest (NOP) is fully committed to the long-term storage of their ware potatoes. “With our new strategy, we keep them germ-free without worry.”
Like many arable farmers before them, Jaap Haanstra Jr., his father Jaap Sr. and brother Lennaert were faced with the dilemma four years ago as to how they would tackle the germination inhibition in their new potato storage. Chlor-IPC was already nominated to lose its authorization and after a thorough orientation with their crop protection advisor and their agent supplier , the partnership decided to focus on 1,4SIGHT . The arable farmers have storage sheds for their 60 ha of ware potatoes at three locations in the Noordoostpolder. 1.4SIGHT is now being used in two of them.
Gain experience
At the start of their fourth season with the dormancy extender, the Haanstra’s are now familiar with the ropes. “In the beginning everything is new and of course it takes a while to build up trust”, says Jaap jr. “But after the first few applications you know what to look out for and then you have no more stress for the next one.” During the first two seasons, the partnership gained experience with 1,4SIGHT without a prior MH spray. “We first took a look at the cat from the tree with MH”, Jaap jr confirms.
\“We started with the 1,4SIGHT as soon as the potatoes were almost dry and had already cooled down a bit. When you reach that moment varies from year to year, of course, but it was roughly the first half of November. ” The partnership has been applying MH since the 2019 season. “You can therefore do with less 1,4SIGHT”, Haanstra jr says. “It saves about a third. And even with that strategy, our potatoes come out of storage in excellent condition. ”
Easy to use
Where most arable farmers use their agent supplier to spray the 1,4SIGHT, the Haanstra’s do this with their own equipment. “1,4SIGHT is easy to use”, Haanstra jr says. “You don’t need much of it and it is practically applicable. You just have to make sure that the 1,4SIGHT is warm enough during administration. ” When asked about the main advantage of the 1,4SIGHT, the entrepreneur mentions the excellent quality of his potatoes upon delivery. “They look like you put them in a week ago. The baking quality is excellent and our customer is also positive. And with the progressive custody fee, the long term storage is fortunately also well paid.
