Today and tomorrow Grolloo is the backdrop for the AgroChallenge, a kind of Olympic Games for the agricultural sector. Students of agricultural secondary vocational education from all kinds of European countries carry out various assignments on Drenthe land.
“We have participants from fifteen different countries, such as Romania, Switzerland, Sweden, Ireland and Denmark. Two teams are participating on behalf of the Netherlands,” says Ilse Terpstra of the organization. Yesterday was the opening ceremony with a flag parade and the presentation of the participating teams. Today the so -called challenges, or challenges, started.
Although the teams have already had a first unintended challenge. It turned out yesterday a considerable challenge to get into Grolloo. Due to fire in cables in the track, there was no train traffic around Schiphol. “Then we thought: ‘Oh no’. That way it became a very special day and we now know the NS app very well,” Terpstra looks back. “Fortunately, all teams finally arrived here well.”
At Camping Boerhaarshoeve in Grolloo, nine competition parts are on the menu today, another nine will follow tomorrow. “The teams started with nail poops, or Nailpooping. Then they have to lower a pin into a pylon with a small excavator,” says Terpstra. “Other assignments are, among other things, driving back with a tractor, guessing the weight of certain agricultural parts and scooping potatoes.”
A Drenthe touch at the competitions is the building hunebed. “As a country, we can also come up with our challenges ourselves. Of course we are here in the hunebed area. We have received large stones from a nice farm in the area and they have to work with them. They have to drag them and then build hunebeds. That requires a lot of strength, inventiveness and cooperation. We hope that the Tens will stay whole.”
Another remarkable part is the construction of wolf -resistant rasters. “On our website we have already given an explanation about this, because these rasters are of course very topical in Drenthe. That is interesting for the other countries to read. Making those rasters is at speed in this section. Of course it has to be electricity and it all has to work.”
According to Terpstra, the team that ultimately wins the Agrochallenge can count on eternal fame. “They are very fanatic, that is the most important thing. And of course we have cups and medals and there is still a special prize for the team that works best.”
Next year is the tournament in England, the following year in Latvia. “Delegations of those countries are guests here to see how to do it. Or maybe how it should be,” says Terpstra laughing.