Safflowers... Alternative crop: harvesting tasks

During the first days of September, we spent some time with our friend Juan José in a near field of our village... he was harvesting safflowers (thistles). That was the first time we saw his Lexion 540 harvester working this crop. The stubble was really fine,  then, it allows to prepare the field with out too much work for the next sowing. The harvester works without problems (this crop is swift) although it generates a layer of prickles which is attached to the sieves and it is very difficult to clean it.

According to his opinion, this crop produces good results, getting an average of 1,000kg/ha and with an interesting price. Maybe, this could be a good option to be taken account for rotating crops, therefore it is easy to get healthy fields and to fulfil one of the PAC grant requirements.

Some of our followers have asked us in our YouTube account about the use of this crop. Apparently, this crop has a good calorific value and is a good material to generate biomass... Perhaps someone can offer us more information about this matter.

Versión en español.

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Joaquín Herminio Tribaldos (Twins' Farm)

High quality melons: picking up tasks

As you can remember, some months ago, our friend Antonio Miguel sent us some pictures about planting melons. This time, Antonio shows pictures about picking up that melons, … in fact, we find it are really interesting.

According his comments, one hectare can produce about 30,000kg after collecting each melon plant four times. This year, the price is appropriate (approximately 0.20€/kg) which indicates a good harvest. We like a lot the pictures of the fully loaded trailer. He indicates that they spend 2hours for loading 14,000kg which can be carried by the trailer.

In relation to watermelons, they are carried in boxes for avoiding any damages, since they are more fragile. The watermelon plants produce about 50,000kg/ha and they are picked up twice. The harvesting tasks are totally manual, besides taking care of handling the water melons is absolutely important in order not to hit them, break them…

As you can see in the last picture, the farm has its own brand called "Galanes" and you can send him an email if you would like to taste those gorgeous produtcs… thank you very much for these great pictures.

Versión en español.

Joaquín Herminio Tribaldos (Twins' Farm)