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Sustainable potato production, crop protection and irrigation in Brabant, The Netherlands
Company : Farm Frites
Groups : Dacom: Producer of computer system; ZLTO: Farmers syndicate connection between farmers and government; Agrifirm, Farmers cooperative: recommends in crop protection products and fertilizers; LIB, Provides agricultural innovation funds.
North Brabant is an important area in The Netherlands for potato production. Over 20% of the total Dutch ware potato production is cultivated in this area. The most common soiltype of this area is sandy soil, which needs irrigation in dry periods.
The project is a two years project, which started in 2010. The aim is to get farmers more familiar with decision support systems to come to a higher level of nowadays farming in a sustainable way. With this we want to get at least the same yield with less irrigation water and chemicals. With a group of farmers we are using the Agri Yield Management system. This computer program calculates the best timing and amount of irrigation and the need for crop protection. Irrigation is calculated using a soil moisture sensor. The need for crop protection is calculated out of crop parameters and registration of executed crop protection. All registrations have to be entered in the Decision support system correctly. With the help of local weather information the system gives an advice for crop protection. Earlier trials with this system says that at least two crop protection applications will be spared, and the amount of water given by irrigation is less. This results in less working pressure, and savings of money in fungicides and irrigation costs.
Last year the main conclusion was that the amount of irrigation was on average 30 % too much, resulting in water and nutrient leakage to the subsoils.
The project is a two years project, which started in 2010. The aim is to get farmers more familiar with decision support systems to come to a higher level of nowadays farming in a sustainable way. With this we want to get at least the same yield with less irrigation water and chemicals. With a group of farmers we are using the Agri Yield Management system. This computer program calculates the best timing and amount of irrigation and the need for crop protection. Irrigation is calculated using a soil moisture sensor. The need for crop protection is calculated out of crop parameters and registration of executed crop protection. All registrations have to be entered in the Decision support system correctly. With the help of local weather information the system gives an advice for crop protection. Earlier trials with this system says that at least two crop protection applications will be spared, and the amount of water given by irrigation is less. This results in less working pressure, and savings of money in fungicides and irrigation costs.
Last year the main conclusion was that the amount of irrigation was on average 30 % too much, resulting in water and nutrient leakage to the subsoils.