Potatoes are yielding almost nothing this year. More potato fields, a higher yield and a smaller sales market put the price down enormously. Growers without a permanent purchasing contract in particular have difficulty getting rid of their potato mountains.
“It is common knowledge: far too many potatoes have been produced this year,” says dairy farmer Johan Mulder from Wezup. His neighbor is a potato grower and was left with a huge mountain. “He came to me and asked: ‘Can you do something with it, Johan?’. I want to do something with it, but then I want to feed potatoes all year round. But how can you store them?”
Together with Cor Mechielsen, a contractor friend from Zwinderen, Johan started looking for a solution. Dry beet pulp appears to be the savior. The beet pulp is mixed with the potatoes and then stored in a large white bag: a potato trunk.
Mechielsen has the equipment to ‘slur’ the potatoes. The first potatoes were successfully harvested on the farm in Wezup and Mechielsen now also offers it to other farmers. “We took the first one four months ago and it comes out very nicely. And because there are now a lot of potatoes left, we get a lot of demand for them.”
Excess potatoes should normally be thrown away. “They go into the digester or are driven across the field. They have grown for a year and unfortunately have to be destroyed,” Mechielsen says.
According to him, this will not make the potato farmer rich, but the harvest will not be completely lost. “It really saddens you when so many potatoes have to be thrown away. If you can do something with them, it makes you a little happier.”
The dairy farmer and the contractor share their idea so that hopefully more farmers can use it. “Anyone who has such a device can do this. If you can use potatoes, you can do it this way.”
They expect and hope that this solution will only be necessary this season. “It is a unique year, a very special year,” says Mulder. “It is hoped that next year will be different for arable farmers.”
