In the world of precision agriculture, innovation often comes from those closest to the land. Arjan Doggen, an arable farmer in the Noordoostpolder region of the Netherlands, has spent over a decade refining his vision of the ideal hoe. Now, his creation, the DCR hoe, is ready for the market, and he has teamed up with Wifo for series production and market introduction.
Doggen’s journey began with a simple set of principles: compact, light, easy to adjust, and as durable as possible. His first self-designed hoe was assembled around 12 years ago, and since then, he has been iterating and improving the design. The result is a hoe that has been market-ready for about five or six years now. The name DCR stands for Doggen Constructie & Reparatie, reflecting the hands-on, practical origins of the design.
The DCR hoe stands out in the market with its vertically moving coulter holders, a concept that Doggen prefers over the more common parallelogram design. “On my own farm, I had worked for years with an older conventional hoe with parallelograms. Unavoidably, some play started to develop, making hoeing less accurate,” Doggen explains. “You cannot adjust that afterwards, which convinced me that a parallelogram is not the ideal solution.” The vertically moving design is compact, relatively light, and allows for adjustments in all directions, ensuring precision and longevity.
The hoe’s design is a testament to Doggen’s attention to detail. The coulter holders are mounted in clamps on a square box section, with substantial levers that allow for tool-free adjustments. The working depth of the blade is set with a spindle on top, and milled slots on the side of the box section serve as a scale for the hoeing depth. The use of stainless steel leaf guards and powder coating ensures durability and resistance to wear.
The DCR hoe is versatile, with a range of configuration options to suit different crops and row spacings. It can be equipped with single goosefeet for onions, discs as leaf guards for hard soil, or wing shares for wider row spacings like beet. The coulter holders allow a minimum row spacing of 20 cm, and the design is prepared for mounting additional implements, such as finger weeders or torsion weeders, which are still under development.
The collaboration with Wifo brings significant advantages. Wifo already offers a camera-controlled sideshift for hoes, and their extensive dealer network will greatly expand the potential customer base for the DCR hoe. This partnership allows Doggen to focus on further development and innovation, while Wifo handles the production and market introduction.
The DCR hoe is a testament to the power of practical experience and innovation in agriculture. Developed from the ground up by a farmer who understood the specific needs of onion growers and organic farmers in his region, the DCR hoe offers a unique design that is both compact and durable. As the customer base expands, so too will the applications and requirements for the hoe, but Doggen is ready to meet these challenges with his practical, hands-on approach.
In a market filled with hoes, the DCR hoe stands out with its original design and attention to detail. It is a product of years of experience and iteration, and it represents the best of what precision agriculture can offer: innovative solutions that come from those closest to the land.