Stage experiences Leandre Blondel and Jules Cherville

Naam:	Leandre Blondel and Jules Cherville
Woonplaats:	Normandie (FR)
Stageperiode:	July 2017
Soort stage:	Working stage
School:	Lycee Agricole d'Yvetot (FR)

 

As part of our HND studies in Farming Management, we had to carry out a four-week internship in a foreign country half way through our two years of training. We chose to carry out this internship in the Netherlands on the Van Den Borne farm. Being interested in precision farming, we looked for a farm in this field. We got this address from a student friend of ours from college, who comes from the Netherlands.

During this internship we carried out various activities that were previously unknown to us, mainly analyzes of certain production plots such as measuring the growth of potato seeds, then determining the nitrate rate in  plants using the "Dualex" technique and taking out water samples in the soil to determine the amount of nitrates contained. We also carried out analyzes and measurements on test plots, with different variations; distances between plantations, varieties and fertilization methods. Then, we also carried out the scanning of a parcel using the scanner of the farm, the "Dualem 21 S". This scanner is used to measure the conductivity of the soil. We also discovered the use of drones in precision farming. And finally, we discovered and learned the different techniques of irrigation of crops between traditional irrigation and irrigation with a "fasterholt".

This internship allowed us to discover what precision farming really was in a world-renowned farm on this subject. We very much enjoyed the various tasks entrusted to us by Mr Van Den Borne, on account of the responsibility, autonomy and organization that we should have. This experience allowed us to open our minds and convinced us that precision farming was the agriculture of the future to reconcile yield, economy and environment, giving us both the desire to develop this type of farming in our farms in France.