The potato season on the farm

The potato season shapes your chips more than you might think. Which variety you get, how it colours in the oil and how consistent it stays all begins in the field. On our farm in Zeewolde we follow the potato all year, from planting in spring to the harvest in late summer and storage in winter. Below we take you through that year, and explain why you get a different variety in one month than in another.

1. Spring: planting

The year starts in spring with planting. As soon as the soil is dry enough and has warmed up sufficiently, usually in April, the seed potatoes go into the ground. The machine lays them in ridges: the long, raised rows you see in every potato field. Inside those ridges the new tuber will have room to grow, shielded from the light.

On our farm potatoes do not go into the same field every year. Since 1994 we have also grown sugar beet, onions and winter wheat. Rotating crops keeps the soil healthier and gives diseases and pests less chance to build up. That is standard practice in arable farming, and it starts with the choice of which field gets potatoes this year.

2. Summer: growing

In summer the foliage comes up, the plant flowers and below ground the tubers set and swell. Joost, who is responsible for growing and crop protection on our farm, watches the crop closely in those months. The weather plays a big part: too dry, too wet or too hot affects yield and quality, and a disease such as late blight is always a threat.

Towards the end of growth the foliage is removed or dies back. The tubers then stay in the ground for a while so the skin can set. A firm skin protects the potato during lifting and in storage. If you want to know more about the varieties in our fields, read the comparison Agria or Frieslander.

3. Late summer and autumn: lifting

Then comes the potato harvest. The lifter takes up the ridges, sieves out the soil and carries the tubers to the trailer. It has to be done carefully, because a damaged tuber stores less well. Early varieties such as the Frieslander come out of the ground first, in August. Agria follows shortly after. From September the new Agria is usually good enough to cut chips from, and lifting the storage crop carries on into the autumn.

This is also the explanation for our change of variety. In August the Agria from the previous harvest runs out, while the new crop is not quite ready. The Frieslander bridges those few weeks: an early variety and a true transitional potato that crisps up quickly and keeps well. That is why only in August do we supply chips made from Frieslander potatoes. From September the new Agria takes over again.

4. Winter and spring: storage

After lifting, Agria goes into the store. There it first dries off so small wounds can heal, and then the temperature is lowered gradually. The aim is a potato that stays dormant: dark, so it does not turn green, not too warm, so it does not sprout, and not too cold, so it does not build up sugars. How that works is also covered in storing potatoes.

Because Agria stores so well, we cut our chips from it from September to July: first from the fresh harvest, then from the store. Every week we gently wash and grade a portion for our customers. And while the last Agria comes out of the store, the next crop is already in the field. If you want chips that come from the same farm all year round, call or message Thijs on 06 23972300. You are also welcome to visit the farm.

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