On Friday 5 September Dutch farmers Govert van Dis and Phily Brooijmans harvested their first quinoa crop. The quinoa was sown in April and has been grown organically. At first sight the results have been encouraging, although the farmers, who jointly run their farm, have experienced certain agronomic issues. For one, the crop does not ripen in an even manner. Another issue is the occurrence of weeds. According to Govert, however, as organic farmers they were better equipped to combat the weeds than 7 Dutch farmers who have started growing conventional quinoa this year. Since quinoa is a new crop in the Netherlands, pesticides for this crop have not yet been admitted. The organic quinoa was sown in rows and weeding has been done manually.
Govert and Phily are enthusiastic about the pilot project, but the decision whether they will again grow quinoa next year will depend on further information about the yield.
This is the link to the article in Dutch (with pictures): http://www.biojournaal.nl/artikel/16768/Eerste-Nederlandse-bio-quinoa-geoogst-bij-VOF-van-Dis-Brooijmans