Will the sprayed – yellow – meadows soon be a thing of the past? Well, if it’s up to Irene Kramer. The inhabitant of Burgerbrug has been committed to the ‘Vitality for land and plants’ project for some time now. The aim is to allow farmers to maintain the land in a more natural way. Including by spraying milk.
It is expected that many chemical substances will be banned in the coming years, including the well-known Round Up. “A lot is at stake in the next ten years,” says Irene Kramer. “That’s why we want to see what we can do by maintaining the land in a more natural way. It’s about human health and knowledge sharing. So that we know what we can do, even without chemicals.”
Alternative ways
Adri Neefjes from Berkhout is one of the participants in the project. He has just started planting bulbs on a plot in Grosthuizen for the 2023 harvest.
“There are rumors that the use of chemicals should be reduced considerably by 2030. That would mean that we can only conduct an experiment 7 more times to gain wisdom. So we are looking for alternative ways to treat the grass layer. With a fear, for example, or by scraping a piece of the grass. That way we also hope to get a good yield for the bulbs, without using Round Up.”
He also participated in the trial last year. “I didn’t really notice any difference then. But 1 year is not a test, so we’re doing the same thing now. If we see good results again after this year, then there’s reason to continue with this. Less chemistry means better soil life The better the soil life, the more vital the plant, the less susceptible the bulb is to diseases.”
Spraying milk
One of the alternative ways is to spray milk. The use of 10 litres, mixed with 300 liters of water, would already enrich soil life. Kramer: “The bacteria in the milk give a boost to the soil life. In addition, we want the livestock farmer and bulb grower to work together more. In other words, that the livestock farmer sprays milk when he knows that the bulb grower is coming.”
Kramer only sees advantages: “The dairy farmer simply has it in his milk tank. So a good result for little money.”