Danish Farmer outpaces manufacturers with giant, cost-cutting innovations
Danish farmer Henning Thybo manages 900 hectares with a focus on efficiency and low production costs. When standard machinery falls short, he develops his own solutions, including a 12-row potato planter. While his innovations drive productivity, he also aims to expand the use of precision farming technologies but highlights the need for better guidance to fully unlock their potential.
Working a total of 900 hectares, 200 hectares of which are owned and the rest rented, Henning freely admits he is quite lazy and prefers to use efficient technology to boost his labour force. His annual production breaks down into 320 hectares of potato starch production, 70 hectares of grass seed, and 510 hectares of malt barley.
Manufacturing techology himself
Harvesting around 3,200 tonnes of potato starch per year is a mammoth task, and quite laborious, if the right equipment is not used. However, for Henning, if he cannot buy the machine technology he needs, he simply manufactures it himself.
“We have to rotate the potatoes on the same land every 3 years to try and prevent disease, such as that caused by potato cyst nematodes,” said Henning. “The trouble with that is finding new land to rent, some of which can be up to 50 kilometres away from the farm. We normally plant the Ydun and Kuras varieties, which are the most popular starch varieties here in Denmark, and more resistant to diseases. It costs me around DKK4,000 (€536) per hectare to rent land here, so we have to be as efficient as possible to keep the costs of production down.
“With everything included, it costs us around DKK30,000 (€4,000) to grow one hectare of potatoes. We harvest around 10 tonnes of starch per hectare on average. That means we yield 50 tonnes of potatoes per hectare, with 20 percent starch content. One of the biggest initial costs is purchasing the licence to produce starch potatoes which costs DKK80,000 (€11,000). On average we receive around DKK50,000 (€6,700) per hectare of potatoes leaving us with a net income of around DKK20,000 (€2,680) per hectare ,” he said.
Quite the inventor
Henning is also quite the inventor, having designed, modified and manufactured his own machinery to make some jobs much easier. For the past 25 years Henning has invented, developed and used a number of new machinery to increase efficiency in his potato production business. “What you cannot buy, you must make yourself. There is nothing we have not worked with, except for sprayers and combines, which everyone uses. “But potatoes are a small niche, and there has not been so much technology developed for it, so we have worked on that ourselves.”
Crowncrusher
Governments across the world are encouraging farmers to use less chemicals when producing crops, so Henning developed his own ‘crowncrusher’ that stops the growth of the potato prior to harvest, instead of using chemicals like Reglone. “After pursuing a number of experiments to find an alternative to using chemicals, we came up with the crowncrusher. It cuts the potato top right at the soil surface, and the trick is to cover the green part with soil again, so the plant does not continue to grow but thinks it has finished growing.”
Around 15 years ago Henning developed a machine that could collect and rewind the plastic that had been covering the potato crops. He then reuses the plastic instead of throwing it aways as waste, also increasing his farm sustainability.
Modified slurry tanker
Back in 2019, he also modified an old slurry tanker to spread protamylase, the concentrated juice from potato starch factories, on the land, saving fertiliser costs in the process. He applies 70kgs to 120kgs of the protamylase per hectare which is 82% nitrogen.
12-row potato planter
However, one of the largest machines Henning and his team developed in 2012 is his 12-row potato planter with 15 tons hopper attached. “We had a 4-row planter and a 12-row cleaner, which were impossible to get to work together. Now we have a 12-row planter that can hold 15 tons of potatoes, and we have developed a folding mechanism so it folds down to 3.9m width, which we can drive on the road. We have patented that design,” he added.
Henning says his 12-row potato planter can plant 40 to 50 hectares per day and fits perfectly with his 12-row cleaner.“We had some help from Fasterholt and a number of other companies,” he said. “The machine is built around a carriage with bogie axles with steering on the rear axle. The machine folds up with the simple press of a button in the cab and takes around 90 seconds to fold up. Sensors control the planting distance and a camera on the rear helps the machine steer precisely into the rows. It takes a tractor with 230 to 250hp to operate the planter and hydraulic functions are operated via a 12 valve block requiring 40 litres of oil per minute.”
Looking at the bigger picture, Henning says if he had a few million kroner at his disposal he would have a go at developing his own self-propelled potato harvester.
Easier solutions
He says his goals are to find easier solutions to the tough tasks in agriculture, preferably right away, but of course, within what is economically realistic. “We are not happy having a problem that we cannot find a solution for. Things should be easier tomorrow than they were yesterday. “When I get an idea, I am not going to stop until it is done. If you push hard enough, the solutions will come. We want to deliver what society desires.”
Precision farming plays a vital role
Henning hosts many potato trials on his farm but on one occasion Seges installed a yield meter on his potato harvester and it did not work. He and his team had the patience to keep adjusting it until it succeeded. Henning freely admits that precision technology plays a vital role in his farming business today, and that he could not operate without it, but adds that he misses guidance on how to use it to its full potential. “I have always been first in line to check out new technology and have been using GPS on the tractors since 2009 to drive more precisely and optimise operations. Back then, I called it entertainment, and the others just laughed. Now, I believe 90 percent of the cultivated land is managed by tractors with GPS.”
Machinery
Among his extensive portfolio of machinery he runs 5 GPS-guided tractors, which means he can carry out operations such as spreading fertilizer according to application maps, and when using the protamylase wagon. “However, we are not fully utilising that technology yet. It is difficult to use the technology when you need to apply different rates according to the products such as magnesium, lime, nitrogen, and phosphorus, etc.If you apply according to lime needs, it might be three tons, and according to magnesium needs, eight tons. We need more guidance in these areas. If I am going to get into that fight, the advisors need to help. Our machinery can do a lot, but we need something that also works on a farmer’s level. It is not that simple when it also needs to be used in practice, and you have to trust it.”
Software programmes
There are a number of software programmes available to farmers to use with precision technology and Henning says he has used them all, including MarkOline, Field Sense, Farm Tracking, and others he cannot remember the names of.
His latest purchase is Raindancer, which keeps track of irrigation machines, that also use GPS technology. This keeps Henning informed about where his irrigation machines, of which he owns 41 and rents 15 more, are around the farm, and when they are finished.
