Gentleman farmer in Thailand
Can you imagine a born and raised purebred Rotterdammer who ends up in farming from one day to the next? His agricultural background extends no further than occasionally giving a splash of water to a plant in his living room and taking care of the eight square meter garden belonging to his Rotterdam ground floor apartment.
A stark contrast to the more than a hundred rai that Ed and his girlfriend La have now managed in the Isaan is hardly imaginable.
After several times Thailand are holiday After his early retirement, Ed will live there to try to spend the rest of his life as pleasantly as possible. Ed is single, no children and hardly any family in the Netherlands. He soon falls under the spell of a Thai beauty and he wants to forget the memory of it quickly. In short, building a house and shortly afterwards love and lose money. A story that will not sound unfamiliar to many..
Some time later, Ed meets his second love. An only child of an elderly father with lots, lots of land. Given his old age and poor health, he is barely able to take on the organization of working the land, let alone roll up his sleeves himself.
Learning process
Farming is quite a learning process for Ed, but for his girlfriend La he is a real help and support. In the Netherlands you are certainly not without means with such a piece of land, but in Thailand land is worth a lot less. In addition, a number of distant relatives use pieces of land for next to nothing. According to Ed, you can hardly buy a few bottles of beer with those rents. Looking over 'his' lands, he himself has to laugh about what happened to him unconsciously: gentleman farmer in Thailand.
The first planting
Ed has now gained some experience with the planting of the so-called Thai potato, from which tapioca is made. He himself worked on the land for a day and also accurately registered the wages paid, working hours and purchases. The yield is not great at three cents per kilo, which is why it is essential to know the final cost price of the coming harvest.
A second planting concerns jasmine, the flower buds of which are used in the manufacture of the small flower garlands that hang from motorists' windscreens. According to Ed, this should yield a better result than the tapioca potatoes. The selling price seems to be a lot more reasonable, he says. It is a first experiment for both of them.
The planting of normal European potatoes is still on his mind and other crops may also be added. For our Rotterdam gentleman farmer, it is all a matter of gaining experience and getting to know the market for these products. He is aware that he is not allowed to work in Thailand and he does not intend to. The farm work is hard, he literally experienced that after just one day, and by figuring out costs and results, he can also gain more credit.
Spray and spray again
What Ed has noticed by now are the large amounts of pesticides that the Thai farmer sprays over the crops. Perhaps Ed and La will change that and go organic one day. There is still a long way to go before things are in order and insight into the results of the harvest will provide more clarity.
Nice story, Joseph, nice to read. Apparently you don't have an agricultural background yourself and if you have recorded a lot of text from Ed's mouth, he still needs to learn something in that area.
Tapioca does not come from a "so-called Thai potato", but from the cassava plant. The only similarity with a potato is that it is considered a staple food in many (African) countries. The Netherlands imports a lot of tapioca from Thailand, mainly as animal feed.
Ed can put the cultivation of potatoes in the Isaan out of his mind, the climate is just not suitable for it. Potatoes are grown on a small scale (compared to the Netherlands, for example), but mainly in the cooler regions around Chiang Mai. Many of those potatoes go to Lay's crisp factory in Lamphun,
because the quality and structure of the local cultivation means that the potato is only suitable for chips. French fries cannot be made from it, which must therefore be imported en masse into Thailand (Canada, USA, Belgium, the Netherlands). However, there is a large market for potatoes in Thailand and scientists in Australia and the Netherlands are eagerly looking for a potato variety that can thrive on a large scale in Thailand.
A recommendation for Ed is also to switch to organic as soon as possible. The uncontrolled and massive use of pesticides is devastating Thailand. Recently, for example, Europe has tightened the standards for pesticide residues, the export of vegetables, fruit, etc. from Thailand to Europe has already fallen by 50%.
Bert, agriculturally I am indeed a zero. Was of the opinion that those "long sticks" that the Thai potato calls tapioca. What else is the stuff for? Maybe Ed can do something with your good advice.
Those long sticks are probably the roots of the cassava plant and tapioca is indeed made from them. Pretty interesting, google tapioca and/or cassava and you will get all the information about this starchy product on wikipedia.
I'm not a farmer either and won't be able to help Ed that much further. I know more about processing potatoes. The company I most recently worked for converts the equipment and machinery from potatoes into chips, fries or other potato products that I have sold all over the world. In Thailand we have never been successful with fries, as I explained earlier.
The risk remains that said Ed over time
time ; If things are perhaps in order, work is quickly done away with because promises- agreements: Buddha said so-
Believe nothing and no one - not even when I say so
Follow your head
So Ed!!!!!!!
Start applying chicken manure unlimited if it is present in your area.
the land in Isan can bear it very well.
you will be surprised after a few years …. as to your yield towards your neighbours.
knows something to talk to about it, did some work on the land an hour from Korat,
grow the tapioca 2 year….. NOT 1 year to harvest…..
is done quite simply because money has to be put on the table….out of necessity,
once bought some potatoes in the Big C in Korat…. these sprouted and I planted them
just a try….ok made 1 big potato 3-4 if there are enough eyes
zyn , cut the potato well chosen between the eyes with a sharp clean knife.
I grow potatoes in Canada…..and have experience….also before Holland.
applied some sun protection above my potato field, definitely a necessity !!
the potatoes had grown well and were displayed to the villagers
you should see their eyes full of amazement of how is it possible.
I also distributed some to the local school.
So again I repeat chicken manure is a first class growth product… not cheap
has a good structure and brings humus into the soil
on a large scale it is almost impossible to grow potatoes in Isaan.
also dairy… so milk production is almost impossible… although there are some companies here
operate …spoke to a Dane not so long ago…..he said he has 20 dairy cows
on his farm….. interested I asked about the daily production per animal….
15 ltr. was his somewhat dejected reply.
considering that a cow with us nowadays has at least 40 ltr. must give p. day !
otherwise it is almost the end of his life.
So now that you seem to be a farmer and why not…let's just say…. it's a nice profession I just want to say ... but mother nature will certainly have a very big role
also play here in Thailand, wish you good luck in advance.
I once read that palm oil is worth gold. Maybe bet on that.
Don't you know that due to the afforestation of thousands of hectares of trees that produce palm oil, the last rainforest is in danger of disappearing, especially in Indonesia ..
And palm oil is not really necessary, but it is in 1001 products. Rather invest in something environmentally friendly, I would recommend.
Think about planting trees. Easy to maintain, good for nature and very nice after a few years. I've been doing it for a few years and really like it.
I don't quite understand this answer.
After all, the advice is not about deforestation of a rainforest, and then plant trees that produce palm oil…..
but for planting on existing agricultural land……..
Perhaps unclearly written, but meant try planting a few rai with eg fruit trees or eucalyptus trees. Not much work good for the environment and nice after a few years. Maybe with some ponds for fish. I have done the same with former rice fields. The Thai government is also trying to promote more variety.
Do and help in the destruction of the last rainforest!
First something to eat I thought,
then plant some trees.
leaves and wood on the table hum?
really city this way of thinking.
vyvers with fish agreed.
not because it looks so nice
yes, to fill the belly, yes.
farmers exist to produce food.
everyone knows that.
yummy hum.
haha, nice comment. You cannot eat leaves and wood, but you can sell them. You can use them to pay certain costs. Indeed I thought of the city, I am also a Rotterdammer, but not a gentleman farmer. More of a small farmer. And about those fish – of course for food and not for show. Go try that chicken manure good idea.