Stage ervaringen van Charel Deltgen

Always fascinated by the growth and harvest of potatoes, I decided to do an internship at Van den borne Aardappelen in April 2021 as part of my school education. I was also interested in the application of precision farming and the management of such a big farm with several employees. The experience was more than worth it.

In my first week, the weather was rainy and it also fell some snow. So we did some cleaning at the potato storages and the washing machine. It was interesting to see that from a close view and the work ambience was also very good.

Finally the weather started to get better and we could start fieldwork. One of my tasks for the next three weeks was to do some grassland,- and covercrop- fields with the rotary tiller. Later the fields got ploughed and planted. Because of the lots of rain in the previous weeks, some fields were too wet to plough. So my second task was to cultivate these fields that they could dry faster. Another task was to help planting the trying fields.

I learnt a lot of things in these 4 weeks of internship. I saw a different site of the Netherlands and of its intense agriculture. I was amazed by the sophisticated machinery which is used at Vandenborne Aardappelen. I never thought that the growth of potatoes is so complex. I learnt a lot about growing potatoes and taking care of them. I loved to work and live with the other students for a month. Jacob really took care of us and gave me a very detailed view of how it is to work with all the precision farming devices.

I want to thank Jacob, Louis, Dieter, Ferre, Pjotr Peter and René for providing me an unforgettable time on the farm. I also want to thank Luka, Rick and Kumar for having a great time.

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