No two growing seasons in onion growing are the same, as last year proved. Nearly every grower in the Benelux had soaking wet conditions during the sowing period and the following months also had too much rainfall for the crop. The typically Dutch wet summer then caused some onion fields to catch up in terms of growth.
The differences in growth, and therefore yields and quality, were quite large. This was true not only at regional level, but also from plot to plot. Harvesting did go very smoothly for a change.
All this was clearly evident in the Onion Crop Tour of ‘Boerenbusiness’, in which De Groot en Slot (DGS) has participated since 2024. In the Onion Crop Tour, ten different onion growers across the Netherlands are followed during cultivation, from sowing moment to harvest. They talk about growing conditions, growth and the challenges they face during the growing season. Data such as rainfall amounts and sowing depths are also collected and yield measurements take place.
Mapping growth season
As mentioned, every season is different. Because the growers being followed are spread throughout the Netherlands, you get a reasonable picture of how onion cultivation is developing in a certain area. That is also the aim of the Crop Tour: to map the growing season of onion cultivation in the Netherlands as well as possible, so growers know what is going on.
The soaking wet start of last season was confirmed by participating growers. Normally, sowing in the southern part of the country starts first and seeds in the north flow out of the pack last. This turned out to be the other way round last season due to persistent rainfall. Growers in the north and central part of the country got better chances for sowing around mid-April than the south, these very regions were ahead in sowing and ahead in growth.
Higher yields on clay soil
Only around the end of April/beginning of May did the whole of the Netherlands get another chance to sow. For some growers in the south, that was only the first decent opportunity. As a result, the average sowing date among growers was the second-last since the start of the Crop Tour, in 2017.
Only in 2023 was it slightly later on average, albeit based on the data of the 10 participating growers. At the end of the season, growers on the clay soils in the central and northern parts of the country realised higher yields on average than their colleagues on the sandy soils.
Not only the growing season is charted. It also focuses on the challenges growers face during cultivation. Sometimes these are seasonal, such as rainfall or disease pressure. But soil type and freshwater availability can also create challenges and lead to different decisions. Solutions, ideas and tips that could be interesting and even applicable for other growers are therefore given ample attention. In this way, the initiative also serves as a knowledge platform in which DGS is happy to participate as a knowledge partner.
Input from knowledge partners
Part of the solutions and tackling of challenges comes from different knowledge partners from the crop, each having their own specialism. In this way, the crop technical part of the Crop Tour is optimised with the right advice. DGS mainly takes care of the sowing and varieties part and also provides growers with knowledge and advice on cultivation and storage.
Conversely, with their findings in the field, growers directly inform the knowledge partners by region. Contact with each other takes place in a WhatsApp group, where sharing a picture of the crop or an application in cultivation sometimes says more than a few sentences. This also makes it easier to compare with each other. Besides this digital contact, growers and knowledge partners meet physically a few times a year. These days are filled with activities to gain agricultural knowledge.
