How realistic is it to earn (just earn, not get from the sale of products) 2000 euros per hectare? Is it realistic to earn 2000 euros / ha on field crops? “Really,” says Sergei Samonenko, director of Vimal.
Starch varieties - salvation for potato growing
The Vimal company recently launched the largest starch plant in Eastern Europe in Chernigov. The equipment installed on it can process 1440 tons of potatoes per day. The first stage, capable of processing 700 t / day, is already in operation. The starch that is produced here meets all international quality standards and is already exported to Turkey, China and even Holland - the world center of starch production. “And this is clearly not for resale. Because Dutch traders trading all over the world do not take starch from us, but bring their own branded bags, pack our starch in them at our factory and send it directly to China, ”says Sergei Samonenko. Having created such a powerful production, Vimal is now actively forming a circle of suppliers. At the same time, the plant does not need any potatoes, but with a high starch content. For example, with a starch content of 20%, the plant is ready to pay 0,09 euros / kg. “We pay for potatoes 30% more than they pay in the European Union,” notes S. Samonenko. Only special starch grades can provide high starchiness. Well, maybe even chips - if the products for some reason do not satisfy the manufacturer of the chips or if, as in the past year, the weather conditions developed so that instead of the 16% indicated in the specification of the variety, the starch content was all 20%, and hand over this potato sometimes it became more profitable for a starch plant than for a chips plant.
Director of the company "Vimal" Sergey Samonenko
The cultivation of special starch varieties, as S. Samonenko said, is only being introduced in Ukraine. Now the share of such varieties accounts for no more than 10% of the total volume of the raw materials that are brought to Vimal. The rest are substandard products of chip varieties (starch content 14-16%) or table varieties (starch content 10-12%). Of course, with such starchiness, the price of admission does not allow counting on any earnings: if only to help out at least something for substandard potatoes, if there is no own number of pigs to feed them these potatoes.
At present, Vimal accepts potatoes at the following price: with a starch content of 10-13% - 0,03-0,04 euros / kg; 13-15% - 0,05-0,06 euros / kg; 15-18% - 0,06-0,07 euros / kg; more than 18% - from 0,07 EUR / kg. But many potato farms have already begun to take an interest in starch varieties. The market situation pushed them to this: the overproduction of table potatoes caused such prices for the latter that the farms considered the option of phasing out potato growing, selling specialized equipment and focusing on corn and sunflower. Therefore, in this situation, the cultivation of starch varieties could be a salvation for potato farms for the period while the generation that still knows how to grow potatoes on its own is alive.
Sergei Samonenko gives general economic calculations. For example, if you collect 50 t / ha of starchy potatoes, then they can be sold for 4 euros. There is no waste here, in contrast to table potatoes: anyone will do for processing. “If only the farm would leave the land on the field, and not bring it to the plant,” adds S. Samonenko. This level of yield is quite achievable. For example, among the partners of the Vimal plant there is a farm from the Chernihiv region, which in 650 reached the level of 2018 t / ha. But the cost of growing potatoes, according to S. Samonenko, now in Ukraine does not exceed 63 euros / ha. And this is with the high technologies that the cultivation of marketable potatoes requires. But, as the director of the Vimal company reminds, starch potatoes do not need to be stored, calibrated or packaged. There is no need to take care of the presentation during the cultivation process, and this at least slightly reduces the cost of fungicides and insecticides. For example, pest control was limited to pickling tubers against the Colorado potato beetle, and that was enough. Vimal's calculations show that by growing starch varieties instead of table varieties, you can save per hectare: sorting - 2790 euros (124 euros / t); for two fungicidal treatments - 2,79 euros;
on a vegetable grid - 86 euros;
by reducing the amount of fertilizer applied - almost 48 euros;
replacing original drugs with good quality generics - 54 euros. All in all, the savings are almost 412 € / ha, which brings the cost per hectare down to 2378 €. Thus, you can earn 2000 euros per hectare. Of course, there are farms where 15 t / ha are harvested, where they use planting material of unknown reproduction, grown with their own hands, and not in seed farms under the control of selection firms; where the technique is outdated and does not cut the ridges, and the digger leaves half of the crop in the ground. But even in this case, according to S. Samonenko, the potato grower can earn money. So, one farm known to him saved on technology and cost only 1744 euros / ha, due to which the yield reached only 30 t / ha. At the same time, the starch content was 19,5%, which allowed the farm to earn 951 euros per hectare.
Vimal-Agro experience: the secret is in fungicides
Vimal is more than just a refiner that draws exciting perspectives to the suppliers. It is a diversified company that is engaged in potato processing, construction and agriculture. In particular, the "Vimal" company includes the "Vimal-Agro" agricultural company, which is located in the village. Vybli Kulikovsky district, Chernihiv region. Among other things, the agrofirm in 2018 grew starch potatoes - Susanna and Eurostarch (both of the Europlant selection) and Kuras of the Agrico selection. According to Yuriy Dyak, director of Record Agro, the exclusive distributor of Europlant varieties in Ukraine, Eurostarch is a medium late variety (vegetation period - 85-95 days), resistant to late blight, leaf-rolling virus, black leg, nematode, demanding to a balanced nutrition, with a potential for starch content of 20-21% and a yield of up to 50 t / ha. But the Susanna variety is mid-early, with a similar yield potential and even higher (22,5%) starchiness, resistant to metribuzin and many diseases. The agricultural company occupied 100 hectares with starch potatoes. Potato yield was 35 t / ha at the beginning of digging, and 40 t / ha at the end. As S. Samonenko assures, this is not the maximum that the culture could give: potatoes were dug from August to mid-September, while the maximum yield of the variety is given when dug up at the end of September-in the 1st decade of October. Thus, the agricultural firm "Vimal-Agro" has shown an example of the successful cultivation of starch potatoes. “We wanted to launch a project for growing starch potatoes in 2014 - to plant 5-10 hectares and see the results, calculate the economic efficiency. However, then the war prevented. But in 2018, there was a resuscitation of interest in the project: the front line stabilized, at the same time the situation on the ware potato market worsened, which forced producers to look for new ways. Moreover, the prospect of growing starch varieties, according to the calculations of the company "Vimal", looks promising:
Food | Starch (starchiness 20%) | Chipsy | |
Productivity, t / ha | 45 | 45 | 38 |
Marketability,% | 85 | 100 | 80 |
Sales price of marketable potatoes, euro. / Kg | 0,1 | 0,095 | 0,12 |
Non-commercial potato starch selling price, Euro. / Kg | 0,06 | 0,06 | |
Gross income, thousand Euro / ha: total | 4,26 | 4.28 | 4.11 |
from the sale of marketable products | 3,88 | 3,67 | |
from the sale of non-commodity products to starch | 0,38 | 0,44 | |
Costs, thousand Euro / ha | 3,22 | 2,34 | 2,98 |
Profit, thousand Euro / ha | 1,51 | 1,92 | 1,13 |
Commenting on the calculations, S. Samonenko noted that the marketability indicator of 80-85%, especially for table potatoes, is quite optimistic, because in practice this level is often 75 or even 50%. Summing up the results of the first season of growing starchy varieties of potatoes in large volumes, S. Samonenko discovered two main secrets. The first he formulated as follows: "70% of the yield is the right seeds." By correct seeds, he meant planting material of high reproductions that meets the requirements of standards for virality, etc. For example, if you use planting material not 1st, but 2nd reproduction, you can reduce the cost of it from 383 to 255 euros / kg. However, because of this, 15% of the harvest is lost, which costs the farm 636.942 euros / ha. Thus, the "savings" on planting material turns into a net loss of 8100 euros / ha. The second feature of starch varieties is that they form the bulk of the yield in the last 3 or even 2 weeks of the growing season, that is, in September. “In July, when many days of potato field are spent, starch varieties look unattractive: the tubers are still small. But in the last 2-3 weeks the main increase in yield takes place, ”says S. Samonenko.
Accordingly, starch varieties, more than any others, require the conservation of green mass during the growing season. “The preservation of the vegetation mass throughout the summer, until September, is the second secret of growing starch varieties,” says S. Samonenko. And this, according to him, would have been impossible without the use of high-quality fungicides, which saved the vegetation mass from diseases, primarily from Alternaria and late blight. The firm "Vimal-Agro" has treated its starch potatoes once with Propulse against Alternaria and three times with Ditan against late blight. This made it possible to preserve the vegetative mass of potatoes during the summer until September inclusive. And without this, the agricultural company would not have received the yield of starch varieties that would allow it to earn.
The third secret of growing starch varieties, he called the fertilization of potatoes with potassium sulfate instead of the traditional chloride. “The use of sulfate instead of potassium chloride increases starchiness,” explained S. Samonenko. Breeders of the Europlant company note that it is allowed to apply potassium chloride, but in limited doses: in the spring - no more than 80 kg / ha. But the application rate K2О recommended at the level of 190–250 kg / ha. Also, you should not add a lot of nitrogen, as this reduces starchiness. As Yuri Dyak said, the rate of nitrogen application should not exceed 100 kg / ha, and the introduction of this element should be stopped before the budding stage. The optimal dose of phosphorus, according to him, is 120 kg / ha. Also, starchy varieties require the introduction of magnesium at a rate of 80 kg / ha in two divided doses.
Thus, the costs of growing 1 ha of starch potato varieties are: for planting material of the 1st reproduction at a planting density of 42 thousand pieces / ha for later varieties and 44 thousand pieces / ha for earlier varieties - 1146.49 euros / ha; for fertilizers - 500 euros / ha; for plant protection products - 350 euros / ha; for fuel - 200 euros / ha; other expenses (salary, rent, depreciation, etc.) - 574 euros / ha. In general, according to S. Samonenko, the agricultural technology of starch potato varieties is largely reminiscent of the agricultural technology of table potatoes. This allows table potato growers to easily switch to starch varieties and, subject to the introduction of high agricultural technologies, earn 2000 euros / ha - as much as no other field crop gives.