Can you be more sustainable than organic? Farmer Ayoub is looking into it

The companies Ayoub visits are located in the municipality of Hollands Kroon. He first visits the Munsterflowers tulip nursery in Slootdorp. Siem and Sandra Munster produce about 8 million tulips every year. The company has a sustainability certificate A+ for the cultivation of flowers and bulbs. And they have that for a reason.

Sustainable but just not organic

The list of sustainable solutions is long. A small selection: the tulips are grown entirely organically in the greenhouses. Biogas is made from their organic waste. They collect rainwater and use it in the greenhouses. They have herb-rich field margins to promote bird and biodiversity. There are 2,800 solar panels on top of the greenhouses, which they use to heat the greenhouses. The tulips in these greenhouses are grown entirely organically on soil and sand. Only outside on the land, where the bulbs are grown, do they not yet work completely organically.

When Ayoub asks why the companies don’t go 100 percent organic, he soon notices that it’s a sensitive point. Siem explains that they now use 90 percent less chemical pesticides, but that they are unable to do that last 10 percent without these types of pesticides.

“Unfortunately, there are not enough biological resources to fully protect the bulbs against mold and disease. And our customer asks for that,” explains Siem. Sandra also says that 100 percent organic is not an option. “If everyone wants to pay a tenner for a bag of five tulip bulbs, then I will be organic tomorrow.”

Birds and insects as pest control agents

Then Ayoub pays a visit to farmer Nanco Lont’s company, which is located a little further in Hippolytushoef. In 2021, the cheerful Hippolytushoever was named the ‘most bird-friendly farmer’ by the Agricultural Nature Association Hollands Noorden. In addition, he tries to grow his sugar beets, onions and seed potatoes with as few chemical pesticides as possible.

The story of the birds begins with the barn owls, who live in his barn. They ensure that there are fewer mice that eat the crops. He has also created a winter food field where birds such as oystercatchers, lapwings and pheasants like to lay their eggs. And there is a partridge hedge.

But not only for birds, he also takes good care of the insects. To this end, he has created flowery field margins for insects such as ladybugs, hoverflies and parasitic wasps. These natural pest controllers feast on the lice and thrips that affect his crop. The artemisia plant is particularly important, as it ensures that the insects can survive the winter.

Nanco says that thanks to the help of insects he has to use fewer chemical pesticides, but also that he cannot do without them completely yet. Whether that will succeed in the future depends on his successor Maartje. “If you slowly move towards organic and the plants get used to it, I can see it succeeding,” 15-year-old daughter Maartje confidently tells Ayoub.

Water bubble and drip irrigation

Then Ayoub visits 20-year-old Rick Schenk in Anna Paulowna. Together with his father they grow onions and potatoes. They have a system in which they use water sustainably and that is an important innovation in view of climate change.

Rick and his father are lucky that there is a large fresh water bubble deep under their soil. “We collect the rainwater from the country in the winter and store it underground in a large freshwater bubble. That bubble is here under the company is at a depth of 20 meters. From there we can pump the water up into a basin. It now contains about a million liters of water. And this way we can irrigate our crops with our own water.” explains Rick to Ayoub.

Irrigation is not done with sprinklers, but by means of drip hoses that lie under the ground between the roots of the plants. Rick shows a hose and points out the small holes that let the water through. “Because they are between the roots, you need much less water, because it goes directly to the plant,” says Rick proudly.

Nutrients (food for the plant, ed.) and any plant protection products are also brought to the plants via the hoses. “As a result, fewer crop protection agents end up in the groundwater. It’s better for the environment,” says Rick.

Impressive

Ayoub is impressed by what he saw today. According to him, the sustainable farmers do everything they can to save the environment and are proud of the products they make. But Rick’s water system impresses the most. “Water shortage and drought is a big problem. But if we continue to study such methods, I don’t think we need to be in such an emergency,” says Ayoub.