Early last month, the OGI Network went on their first European farm tour to Holland. We travelled to Holland with a group of Irish commercial organic growers to visit a range of excellent small-medium, intensive and large scale organic horticultural enterprises. The trip was supported by Bord Bia and the group was accompanied by distinguished agronomist John Hogan and Elmer Koomans of Fruithill Farm.

There truly is so much to learn from each other in the fields on this island but every now and again it’s good to lift the head and explore what is going on further afield. Albeit the scale of the organic farms we visited in Holland was enormous in comparison to Irish counterparts, the challenges and opportunities remain the same.

Most notably they are experiencing similar weather patterns to us with a wet harvest season in 2023 followed by a cold, late spring meaning crops went into the ground late and then the onset of early blight on potato crops in July. As Holland exports much of its organic produce, European markets are sure to see shortages in supply and hikes in prices this year. As a huge volume of organic seed potato is sourced from Holland, one got a sure sense that these too are going to become scarce and more expensive this year!

In the absence of the blue skies we associate with the continent, we spent two days in wellies, hats and raincoats. Rain didn’t dampen spirits or enthusiasm though and with the charismatic and knowledgeable John Hogan on board to guide us, we spent an interesting first day looking at field scale Brassica, onion, potato and carrot crops and the associated machinery and storage facilities required to manage cultivation and markets of this scale.

Elmer from Fruithill Farm set up our second day which included a huge variety in farms and crops including a farm walk and lunch at one of the only practical-based Biodynamic colleges in Europe.  Leeks, spinach, squash, salsify, sweet corn, sweet potatoes, oats, indoor crops, salads, chicory, seed potatoes and green manures are just some of the crops we covered on Day Two.

There was a lot to learn and digest from this short OGI trip to Holland. John Hogan and Elmer’s expertise added to the whole experience, and we were very grateful to Bord Bia for their support and organising our transport. We are looking forward to further collaborations for off-shore trips, so watch this space.

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