He now talks with just as much passion about the potato as he did years ago about the pig. Farmer David from Dinteloord has set his course and closed the Romania chapter. The 2017 Farmer Seeks Woman participant started out as a farmer in his own Prinslandse Polder.
On Sunday evening David was one of the farmers who took center stage in an episode of Onze Boerderij at KRONCRV, the new TV series by Yvon Jaspers. Years ago many viewers wondered what on earth got into him to start a pig farm in Romania. The skeptics were right: David has put an end to his efforts to gain a foothold as a pig farmer in Eastern Europe.
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Practice more unruly
In good spirits David wanted to throw himself into the ‘ruin’ that was the company in Romania he had set his sights on. He had in mind exactly what he planned to do with the dump, where the pigs would be and where the office would be.
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Practice turned out to be more unruly, says David in Onze Boerderij. “It was a difficult and confusing period for me. I really wanted to start something, build something, but in Romania it took me so much time to realize a business that I couldn’t be a farmer there. It is not nearly as well and as easily arranged as in Western Europe to get something off the ground. That got me thinking. I ran into so many problems there that I would not be happy if I moved there. ”
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‘Lotje from the lottery’
David is now feeling good again. He started working on the arable farm of his neighbors where he grew up as a child, as it were. The intention is that he will work with the owners Willeke and Kees for the next two years to eventually take over the company.
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“I think it’s quite a challenge. I really respect that they and their children have given me this opportunity. It is really a great responsibility to take over their life’s work and that of their forefathers. But I want to do it right, also in Kees’ eyes. He sees everything, he has so much experience, I like to use that. ” Willeke, in turn, is also happy with it. “A lottery ticket.”
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Get to know the facts
In his new working environment, no sows, boars or piglets, but potatoes, wheat, green beans, sugar beets and onions. They are much more than all those curly tails are sensitive to the whims of our climate.
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David was immediately confronted with the facts. A wet winter, a dry spring, Kees, his teacher, had never experienced it before. In order to be able to harvest enough potatoes, a lot of irrigation had to be done. “I prefer moisture in the bed,” David responds. He is almost ashamed of his statement, which also says everything about the fact that he feels like a fish in water in his ‘new’ business.
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“This is my dream, I am home again.” With his Mara, with whom he is still together.
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