Farming Abroad: From Dutch Plains to Slovak Fields

What happens when the family farm becomes too small forthe next generation?

Looking back on four years of farming in Slovakia, the Dutch brothers Rick and Thijs de Schutter recall facing more than just new soils and climates. Securing irrigation rights forced them to rethink which crops they could grow while the challenge of updating decades-old machinery became essential. As they built a smaller, specialised team and navigated unfamiliar regulations, the brothers learned toadapt to their new environment. Did Dutch-style efficiency mesh well with local working habits? Did their bold move payoff?

The video of the talk, more information and further content can be found at

https://www.horsch.com/studio

Guest and moderator:

Rick de Schutter
Raised in a family with generations of farming history in the Netherlands, Rick shares the same agricultural roots as his brother Thijs. Inspired by the family’s earlier move north in search of new opportunities, Rick and his brother Thijs made their own move to Slovakia fifty years later. With a background in engineering and agricultural machinery development, Rick combines technical expertise with practical farming knowledge. He now manages office operations while also overseeing crops and day-to-day activities on the farm.

Thijs de Schutter
Growing up together on the family farm in the Netherlands, Thijs and his brother Rick learned from an early age that hard work and responsibility are part of everyday farming life. Afterstudying agriculture and business in the Netherlands, Thijsgained international experience across the agricultural sector in Europe and beyond. In 2022, he and his brother Rick took the bold step of selling their Dutch farm and starting a new chapter in Slovakia. Today, Thijs focuses on sales, field operations, crop planning, and pushing continuous improvement across the farm.

Moderator: Jens Fehl
Jens has been working in the agricultural machinery sector since 2012. After starting out as a demonstration driver, he moved into sales. Since 2016, he has been responsible for CropCare product marketing at HORSCH and has overseen the further development of the range which has grown from three models in 2016 to twelve models today. His specialist focus is on self-propelled machinery; within the CropCare range, he particularly values the variety of models and the BoomControl system. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

We were both interested in the the farming activities.

SPEAKER_01 0:03

We saw possibilities in in Slovakia. Farm was too small for the two of us to to continue, but we we both wanted a little bit a little bit more adventure. I think in the first season the people would have thought of us They're crazy.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

They're crazy.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

But I think that's that's the nice thing we have. Of course, we are like two brothers, and then I think this goes really naturally. I wouldn't have done this alone. That's not uh okay, I would not have survived.

Why They Left: Family Farm Too Small in the Netherlands 

SPEAKER_03 0:30

Hello everybody. We are here on the Agrotechnica Booth of Horsch. I have two very interesting guests with me. It's uh the De Shooter brothers, they uh are from the Netherlands and have a farm in Slovakia. And I like to welcome uh Erik and thank you uh Thais. Thank you, Jans. Um yeah, it's a uh pleasure to have you here and talk about your way to Slovakia. And uh yeah, I'm interested to know what was the reason that you sold your farm at home and start hundreds, thousands kilometer away to farm. Please introduce yourself. Start here.

SPEAKER_02 1:15

Um so well, we are um Rick and Thijs Schutter. My name is Thijs. We uh grew up on a farm in the Netherlands with our parents and our father grew their um crops like potatoes and onions, sugar beets, and grain. Um we were both interested in the the farming activities and we we decided to to move the farm to to have a bigger scale, and um we saw possibilities in in Slovakia.

SPEAKER_03 1:48

Why you decided to sell it? Was the farm too small for two processes, or what was the reason?

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Yeah, farm was too small for the two of us to to continue, and yeah, land prices are very, very expensive in in that particular area, even more than than average in the Netherlands. And expanding is possible. You have to be a little bit lucky to be able to buy some extra fields, and then yeah, what we needed is maybe an expansion of like double the size of the of the farm. And that would have been like really hard financially and then also like even possibilities. And yeah, we we always have been working like like abroad. Uh we enjoyed that a lot, and that's also how we came in Slovakia one day and uh came back home quite positive, positively surprised.

SPEAKER_03 2:43

So it means you have done your education, you were ready to grow your own farm, and you made the experience or get the result, it makes no sense at home. So you start as brothers looking for a future together, or was it random that you found something to do?

SPEAKER_01 3:03

No, we yeah, we had like a we wanted to make some plans like how to continue for the future. So one of the options was staying in the Netherlands. Um, but we we both wanted a little bit, a little bit more, a little bit more. Uh how you say this, like adventure. Adventure. Ah, okay. Uh some challenge.

SPEAKER_03 3:22

Yeah, yeah. So you have been open to see more than the own yacht and your own village, and you have seen their possibilities, yeah, and you that's accepted the challenge.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. We've also not been only looking into uh into uh Slovakia. We first uh were like like one and a half years looking in Denmark. Um in Denmark for us, yeah, we wanted to continue with like potatoes and onions. Uh in Denmark it's possible, yeah, but like lands are also already quite expensive, and then land quality is not always as good. You have a lot of stones there, um, and then climate is also more wet, uh, even more wet than in the Netherlands, I think. So we started to look more east, more south, and then yeah, that's how we came in Slovakia in the end.

SPEAKER_03 4:14

Okay,

Buying 1,200 Ha of Arable Farmland in Slovakia 

SPEAKER_03 4:15

and what was the reason for Slovakia? The climate or the prices or the possibility to get land? What was the biggest reason on it?

SPEAKER_02 4:27

The climate can be quite extreme in Slovakia, like hot in the summer and dry. We are lucky to have irrigation on our farm, which works quite well for us, especially in the more intensive crops.

SPEAKER_03 4:41

So you have irrigation in your farm. I think it's interesting to introduce now a little bit to your farm. So you told me you have had onions and potatoes at home, and it's not so common in Slovakia for as well. So tell a little bit about your farm, farm size, crops, irrigation. We already heard about it. How big is the farm in Slovakia?

SPEAKER_02 5:10

The farm is uh about 1,200 hectares.

SPEAKER_03 5:14

Okay, which crops?

SPEAKER_01 5:17

Yeah, we grow like cereal cereal cereal crops, so it's like grapeseed, uh wheat, during wheat uh mainly. Uh-huh. Um, corn, silage corn, because we also operate uh biogas. Uh huh. Okay. Um seed multiplication for corn. Uh, and then potatoes and onions.

SPEAKER_03 5:37

So you brought the potatoes and onions from the Netherlands, the idea, or was it done already on this farm?

SPEAKER_01 5:44

It was already uh being done on this farm in the in the past.

SPEAKER_03 5:47

And was this a reason for you to buy this one?

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Yeah, the main reason to buy this uh farm was that we also had like the rights for irrigation in the whole area for another 40 years, I think. Uh so that was very interesting. Makes sense, yeah. Okay, and then also soil soil type. That was also it's like the western western part of Slovakia. I think it's about 45 minutes from Bratislava.

SPEAKER_04 6:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Um yeah, how do we describe the soil?

SPEAKER_02 6:19

It goes from goes from yeah, what very, very heavy heavy clay, and we also have uh this black soil, this Czernozem. And um then we also have like like sandy loam, which holds moisture really well and is really nice to to work on, works easily.

The Brutal Reality of Starting Abroad 

SPEAKER_03 6:40

But heavy clay, it's uh not a problem for that farmhouse, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 6:46

Uh it can be it can be it's a topic you know, it can be challenging. Yeah, it's it's it's heavier than we are used to, and we uh we do it for we are working there now for four years, and uh it still sometimes gives us some good challenges. It doesn't let itself work as nice as we would hope sometimes.

SPEAKER_03 7:07

Oh yeah. I think so. I think it's an interesting question to talk about it. If you leave your home region where you know the soil, when you know the climate, where your parents or grandparents know it, and you have experience, so is it difficult to start uh grow crops far away from the region you are familiar with?

SPEAKER_01 7:32

It's uh it's a big learning curve. Okay, yeah, yeah. Like the first uh first year, first season. We were lucky to also be supported by the previous owner a little bit in in the beginning to get in into contact with uh like for to buy like chemicals or or diesel or machines, or so that was that was really helpful. But then still, yeah, you're in a different country, different culture, uh, with people you don't know well. Uh, people also are a little bit scared because of like new owners uh from foreign country. What's going to happen with us? Are we able to continue our job or not? Um, so yeah, this first year I would say that was really challenging. Challenging and hard. Has it changed?

SPEAKER_03 8:14

You you told us four years?

SPEAKER_02 8:17

Yeah, we are um getting along easier. We we know more or less better what to expect in in terms of weather and also in like planning of the work and which people can do what job best, and who do you need to call for this and who do you need to call for that. It took a couple years to find out, but meanwhile, we we you know we find our way quite well over there, I believe.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

And also working together with like the the people. It's also changed a lot when you get to know each other a little bit better, and yeah, people know that you're not want to like like like fire them or you want to keep them like in a company, and maybe we try to even make it more like a family feeling

How They “Dutchified” their Farm 

SPEAKER_01 9:00

inside the company.

SPEAKER_03 9:01

This is an interesting topic. I think tell us a little bit how does it happen if you are the unknown, uh the Dutch people in Slovakia. How was the feeling uh from the village, from the village people, from your employees? Uh yeah, what was your uh challenge to get there and to to come into the community?

SPEAKER_02 9:27

I think we had to prove ourselves a little bit in the first year, especially. So we had some other some other ideas and how it went in the past over there, and some like growing strategies maybe and then fertilizing and spraying strategy. We more or less different workflow than they have known. Yeah, we we sort of try to dutchify it a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 9:53

So explain Dutchify what the what's behind it.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

We try to work efficiently and we try to harvest as as much as possible from a field. We we plant our seeds, and yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 10:11

In my opinion, in the past, it was everybody worked a little bit easier and not as so it means you were full with power and you like to grow the farm, you'd like to optimize the farm and made a better output for everyone, not just for you, so also for your employees. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

How many employees do you have? I have altogether it's like like 13 people who are uh hired, and then we have four uh self-employed.

SPEAKER_03 10:40

Self-employed. And how many was uh hired there before?

SPEAKER_01 10:45

We came in but short of 40 when we came. Some people left because they could find like a better job somewhere else.

SPEAKER_02 10:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Um retired as well, huh? Yeah, there was this new regulation that you could could go on like uh retirement early. Yeah, okay, you'll retire earlier. So we're also four or five left.

SPEAKER_03 11:02

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

So yeah, that's maybe our luck that we were able to do it with a uh lower amount of people, um, but didn't have to send them away because I think if you send away more people, then like people can also come back.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

But I think nowadays on our farm it's we do all the work and even more than what happened in the past with less people, so people have more work to

Why Farm Management Was Harder Than Crop Farming 

SPEAKER_02 11:28

do.

SPEAKER_03 11:28

So the work why they do have more work because of the different crops or yeah, well, we bigger yields. What what what what is the the reason for more work now?

SPEAKER_02 11:39

We we started the onions, it was not done in the past, yeah. So that's like an extract. Yeah, and um well we we are almost yeah, we are more than 20 people less working on a farm now, so every individual has to do more work than was done in the past.

SPEAKER_03 11:58

So, what is the in your point of view, what was the bigger challenge to grow crops in a different type of soil and climate, or to run a farm with a different mentality of people? Second, the second 100%.

SPEAKER_04 12:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

So if you are a good farmer, you can grow uh crops everywhere, but doesn't mean that a good farmer is also a good manager, or I think as a farmer you have to be if you work together with a lot of people, you also have to manage well. But I think if like the farming side goes well, like if you have like nice soils, if you have the rain in time, if you have the right chemicals and like fertilizers, then the farming is it will just it will just work, it will just it will just go. But then like it's really important like how to work with the people to really do the works in time, choose the right moments, get the guys motivated to work a few hours extra in the in the evenings or in the in the weekends to get something done before a rain. Yeah, get the spraying moments right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:10

Are you two guys splitted in task areas? So is one the human resource manager and one the uh crop manager, or does every one of you do the same?

SPEAKER_02 13:22

We discuss everything together, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:26

And I think make the decisions together, yeah, okay, but to handle to run the farm, is the have you signed special topics and you or who is the responsible for the employees, or how do you split it?

SPEAKER_01 13:41

I think the management. I think in the beginning uh we both did a little bit of everything. Okay, and I think now since the last year it's a little bit more changing to me being more in the office, yeah, and Tys being more managing on the yard with the people and the fields.

SPEAKER_03 13:58

So that's how it's now and you you learned it by doing it by mistakes or figured out which topic fits better to you or to you.

SPEAKER_02 14:10

It goes naturally. I think it as two brothers you have yeah, we have the same goals and we yeah. We do our best, and we had uh like the our first growing season was we had the rain in time, and we we we did our best to do everything as like neat as possible, and we had a very good result, and it also motivated the people because it was our first year, and we didn't really know the people, and personally not at all. And I think in the first season the people would have thought of us they're crazy, they're crazy, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

But I think that's that's a nice thing we have. Of course, we are like two brothers, and then I think this goes really naturally, yeah. Like that you just move so together.

SPEAKER_03 14:56

You are strong and you have yeah, double ideas than only one, and it's easier to grow a business like this together. Yeah, I wouldn't have done this alone. That's not uh okay, I would not have survived.

Bringing Onion Production & Potato Farming Back to Slovakia 

SPEAKER_03 15:10

So let's talk a little bit about uh yeah, farming uh itself. So you have a lot of crops on the farm, and you told us that you put special crops there. Uh, can you talk? Tell us a little bit about uh the ideas, why you did it, why you brought onions to the farm, for example?

SPEAKER_02 15:33

Well, we had this experience growing onions, and um it also had been tried in the past with with like changing results, so they quit, I think 10 years ago or a little bit more.

SPEAKER_03 15:45

So more of the infrastructure of it on the farm?

SPEAKER_02 15:48

Yeah, so there was storage was ready. Okay, and also like the the cedar was there already, and it was as good as new. And um, yeah, well, we it was actually your your idea to start the onions, and we did a little test the first year with and really good result? Yeah, okay, cool. And then we uh we we expanded the the onion part. We did it ourselves completely the first year. It was a small small plot, we put some irrigation there, and it was like really easy to manage, close to the farm, drive by it every day, see it the crop growing every day. And the second year we scaled up like eight times more, I think, than uh the test.

SPEAKER_03 16:31

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And what um about uh growing onions, how you sell it? Can you deliver it somewhere to a warehouse or do you do it everything on your own?

SPEAKER_01 16:46

So we were used from the Netherlands that like you have a lot of like packing companies to say it like this, so it's really easy to sell, uh just as a bulk uh from the storage, but that's different in Slovakia because there's found out no infrastructure behind, no, no, so uh yeah, we had to make find like connections, uh companies who are willing to buy the onions from you and then pack it and then buy it to the supermarkets, but that also brought us new opportunities. So we are now starting like our own packing company area in the yard from the seeds to the yeah, uh so from from next year we really can like grow, pack it, and then sell it directly to the supermarket, so directly more or less to the end customer, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:30

Okay, yeah. Is it with the potatoes the same?

SPEAKER_01 17:34

It will be also for potatoes, yeah. Most uh like 80% of the potatoes we grow are for industry, French fry. They go to Austria and uh Poland, and then the 20% will be like table uh potatoes, so they will stay in Slovakia, they will be for the local local market.

SPEAKER_03 17:52

And then in the future we will see how we're going to if we're going to more do more table or more industry, that's have to see how the markets will uh so are the uh potatoes and onions your main business or is the cereals your main business?

SPEAKER_02 18:09

Well, in form of turnover, having the potato onions is is the main business, and in in terms of like area is the the grains are like 80%.

SPEAKER_03 18:19

So would uh be just uh small area uh available for from soil quality, for example, for uh grow onions and potatoes, or is the demand not so big?

SPEAKER_02 18:34

The demand is not big enough at the moment. We are not able to, we could grow more easily, yeah, but also we have to invest in more storage then, which is possible, but you need you need to find the destination for the onions, yeah. Customers, yeah.

Learning Slovak to Lead the Team 

SPEAKER_03 18:50

And yeah, so for you it's uh a new world, so you have different mentalities, and I think every mentality is correct, and you need to find out how to to be uh together, so it's it's new.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

We have to learn how to work with this, yeah. Yeah, because you cannot change like a culture and and it makes no sense, it makes no sense, yeah. So that's like we have to learn how to accept this, accept this or or work differently.

SPEAKER_03 19:20

And how are you accepted by the people over there?

SPEAKER_02 19:24

Um yeah, we have no problems that I'm aware of with anybody of the local people. I think we are um yeah, of course, there would have been some people when we came there, they don't know us, they see us as foreigners and what's going to happen. But I think it's it turned out quite well. People uh wave and uh don't turn don't turn friendly.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

Yeah, nobody turns their neck to us when we drive by or okay, and we also try to do our best, like we do some like sponsoring for the for the football club in our in our village and help them, but like with some machines if if necessary, or so we tried really to help out each other, and I think that's also what really works well.

SPEAKER_03 20:09

Uh yeah, and we're talking now in English. Um, you and Slovakia, the Dutch people in Slovakia, we're just your business language over there. Are you able to speak Slovakian?

SPEAKER_02 20:23

Understanding goes easier than speaking. Okay, but we uh we can have like farm conversations. It after three years it's it works.

SPEAKER_03 20:34

So you try to learn this language, yeah, absolutely. And you think it's necessary to be a good boss, or doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

Yeah, you have to. You have to because people work for us and we want them to do their best, they can.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

Yeah, we we have to communicate with them, yeah. They are not going to learn Dutch. So we have to learn their language to communicate. So that's really important, and I think also for yourself because it's so easy when you know the language to just step into a conversation and and that also makes brings like a bigger bond, I think, between you and your colleagues.

SPEAKER_03 21:12

People see you do your best to like get into the culture a little bit and and see what and then they agree to do their best in the daily business to push your crops, you push your yields because you all together will have the benefit of the result. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:31

And every now and then we we ask quite a lot from our people, like in harvest time or in irrigation when it's really hot and uh we have to go, like go. Yeah. Then yeah, the people have to be like motivated and if they would hate us, they they wouldn't wouldn't care about anything and how it goes or how it grows. So so we are yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

I think And I I do I do really like the guys that we are working with now. Just uh I like how they work and yeah, of course, there's always like improvements still what can be done different, but I I really like how they really do their best for us.

SPEAKER_03 22:11

That's so it does nice to see. It doesn't matter now in your team uh that you're from different countries, so you're working for one goal together. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

I don't have the feeling anymore that that it's I think they're happy and uh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:26

So you're farmers, two farmers together, and that's it.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

Yeah.

How the HORSCH Avatar Boosted Wheat Yields

SPEAKER_03 22:30

Okay. And um you have told me you um have tokens and machines from the farm and uh some from at home. Was it necessary to replace a lot of machines, uh or can you use everything of this?

SPEAKER_01 22:48

Yeah, we had to, of course, you take over like machines which are being used. Um most of the time when you really start using the machines, you find out like all other issues that you didn't see before. So we found out that we took over like a lot of machines from the previous owner which were completely worn out, worn out, so we had to do a lot of uh investments into like new equipment to be able to do the works, and so to improve the power as well, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:20

And uh and efficiency. And efficiency. And did you put new systems to the farm, or did you just replace the the broken machine with the same type of machine with a new one, or did you do some changes in it?

SPEAKER_02 23:36

Yeah, we we mostly modernized but like firmly modernized, so we went from like near to scrap to to like high-end machines.

SPEAKER_03 23:48

It's but uh the way stay the same in the for example with uh cedar, is it the same system you did before? Uh or did you change something in the system maybe to uh direct seeding or something else?

SPEAKER_02 24:05

Yeah, we run the the the horse avatar since this year, and it worked really well for us. This machine we we mainly don't use really for no-till, but like we still do tillage and then we we can see it everywhere with this.

SPEAKER_03 24:24

So, one of your improvements for higher efficiency, you told us, is to have a more modern cedar and a new system to have improvements.

SPEAKER_02 24:34

Yeah, yeah. We are always of not not always, but we in we can have still really dry October and September months, and with this avatar machine, we even in soil where tillage has been done, we are always possible, always able to get the seed into the moisture because it can seep very deep very easily, and the capacity is like endless.

SPEAKER_03 24:57

It and was this a topic you have known before, or you need to learn in this four years? Because you told us you started four years ago and now you change the equipment. Uh did you change it because it was broken, or because you need to get knowledge for the decision to make the decision about soil climate?

SPEAKER_02 25:22

Yeah. We took a machine from the Netherlands for seeding, and uh the seeding quality was was okay, but capacity was low, and also in in when it would become very dry, and we would have a very bad um germination of the wheat in this case. And we had a demonstration in uh in our first year from this avatar, and we were really, really surprised in what this machine can do, and we got the best yield in this field. Got the best yield in this field with the avatar seeded, and we uh and it was not the best soil where we used this demonstration. So we uh Yeah, we were quite convinced, and even now um our agronomist gets phone calls from neighbors and they are asking what kind of type of cedar do you have because your your weed is looking outstanding at the moment.

SPEAKER_04 26:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 26:16

We also had this this dry month again, and our weed is just it's there and uh it's all. Everything is coming.

The Hidden Business Challenges of Farming Abroad 

SPEAKER_03 26:25

So we talk now about new region, new people, new climate, renew machines. What do you think was the most challenging challenging topic or the topic which uh yeah pushed you the strongest?

SPEAKER_02 26:55

I think the the most difficult part for us was the part where you don't have really like the grip for yourself. So like everything was happening in the office in the beginning, it's happening in a different language, we don't know this language, certification certifications. We were behind on almost everything. Who do you need to call? Who is speaking English? Who can do this certification? Where do I find the people? And are the people real? Or are we being sended invoices that we are paying lots of money and nothing is happening?

SPEAKER_01 27:31

What's what's that's maybe the beginning, and you maybe don't expect this because you're used to having like your own farm in in the Netherlands before, where you just do the farming and everything, you know, everything. Like the bookkeeping, and like and when we came there, it was like we wanted to farm. But what we we of course did expect that it all so it would be some like more office work, but like hell break loose when we opened the door there.

SPEAKER_03 27:58

So the challenge was not to get uh the new climate and the new soil and a good yield. That was not the biggest challenge. In the first year, it was it was not there.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

To get like some some stability, because in the beginning it was just like papers were coming from from all sides, and companies were coming telling us that we had to do new certification on this, or the the strangest things came up, and then yeah, you also have to make a decision like, do we need this? Are we going to do it? With with who are we going to do this? Do we believe this?

SPEAKER_04 28:36

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

Yeah, yeah. Because also a lot of people just come and they just say, like, I did these works a month ago. Um, you still have to pay me for it, and yeah, we didn't know.

SPEAKER_03 28:51

So you told uh there was a lot of invoices and topics to pay. Uh what do you think was the biggest mistake you made in that time?

SPEAKER_01 29:04

Um, I think if I would do it again, I would be more strict and direct in this. Just believe in yourself and just say this is the way how we're going to do it. Uh, you are not going to be paid because I don't believe what you did, just be strict and then move on and not stay in this circle trying to be nice. Because people are just trying to get something from you. They were, they were trying. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:35

You you said if I would. So what's your opinion? Would you do it again or say no, it would be better to stay at home?

SPEAKER_01 29:48

I would do it again. Okay. Yeah, yeah. I would do it different, I think, especially in the beginning, because you learned from it, but I would do it again.

Losing an Entire Corn Harvest 

SPEAKER_01 29:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:56

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 29:59

Uh what was your main challenge the last four years?

SPEAKER_02 30:07

Yeah, well, the the company was not really healthy financially when we took it over. And um it was like we had to prove ourselves and we we couldn't afford like big mistakes or big misses. So I think for me that like the most pressure was don't don't screw this up.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

I think the biggest problem that we had in the first season, what we we do this like seed corn production, and we took over the harvest uh from the previous owner, and during the season our crops looked really nice. Uh, and then we had like an incredibly dry end of the summer and and and with a high temperature, and the seed production for corn was completely we didn't harvest nothing. And it's a very expensive crop, and the previous owner decided to do like 300 hectares, so one fourth of the total farm with this with this crop, and we harvested nothing from that. And that was a that was a big pain at that moment because we put a lot a lot of money into that and there came nothing back. And then from that year we also decided like we cannot take this risk anymore, so we lower this amount uh on this on this crop because and we don't know enough about it, and yeah, the risk we cannot take this risk one more time.

Their Vision for the Future of the Farm

SPEAKER_04 31:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 31:33

And um what are your ideas for the future? How to uh yeah, which direction should run your farm?

SPEAKER_01 31:44

I think what I would like to do first now is to of course, like when we have like this packing running, then we have like our own, we can do everything in our yard. We have like uh we can grow, we can store, we can pack. So that will be then done. Then we have to find the customers, but I think it will that will work. Next thing I would like to do is to uh uh improve like irrigation. That would be I think the biggest improvement we can do now. We do a lot with hose reels still. I would like to install more more pivots because you need way less people, like the way of irrigating is it's much nicer than with hose reels.

SPEAKER_03 32:19

So here everything is of uh optimization of efficiency. Yeah, yeah, okay. Yeah, so it's in every part of your farm, it's to have more efficiency. This is your biggest task area at the moment. Did I understood it right?

SPEAKER_01 32:35

Yeah, yeah, and to be able to do it with less less people, and not that we don't want uh like the 15 people I just talked about, but people are getting it's about making lives easier and results better. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:54

What will you grow more? The new crops or more hectares? What's what's your goal to to grow the farm bigger or do to grow the the business with packing and both both? Yeah. And is there potential in Slovakia?

SPEAKER_02 33:14

The potential to grow is limited, especially in our region where the like there is also competition everywhere where the soil is good, is competition for soil.

SPEAKER_03 33:24

Can you imagine?

SPEAKER_02 33:25

So you have to find a way to to gain some hectares, and then yeah, we found a way this year to to expand, and I think we will grow uh yeah in more into more potatoes and yeah, also more grain, but we will yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:47

And if you look back together to the challenges of uh the last years, uh what is the topic you are the most proud of?

SPEAKER_01 34:01

Um I don't know to to to just see that something works, that like people are happy that the crop that you harvest is looking nice or has uh like I said a good quality. That's where you do it all for in the end.

SPEAKER_03 34:18

I think that's what makes me happy to uh so you are farmers with passion?

SPEAKER_01 34:24

Yeah, I think it is.

SPEAKER_02 34:26

I think you can call it yeah yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 34:29

Yeah, we makes me proud is I think on the end of the season when like the the rotation of seeding until harvest is done, and we've done it with our people, and the results are there, and we can be proud of the results. That's what makes me uh proud to see like our guys and they they know the season is done and everybody's happy. That's like a really, really good feeling for me.

SPEAKER_04 34:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 34:56

Yeah, yeah, it's uh super interesting to talk to you about uh yeah, the topic make farming in a different country. So uh thank you for your time. I think we could stay here for hours and talk about this topic because it's very, very interesting. But uh your topic too for today is to see the exhibition and uh thank you for your time. Thank you for being here. Not a problem. Thank you for inviting us for inviting us. You're welcome.

SPEAKER_00 35:29

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