Financial hardship forces Farm of the Future to pause

The Farm of the Future in Lelystad is a research project by Wageningen University & Research (WUR). The project has been running since 2020. However, a new grant application was rejected. A search for other funding sources has been unsuccessful. Therefore, there is no funding available for research in the coming year.

The researchers hope to be eligible for a grant again next year. Therefore, the research project is taking a year off. This year, the application was rejected due to excessive competition from other projects.

The Farm of the Future aims to develop and test innovative techniques to provide farms with practical tools for a more sustainable future. The test field has now been sown with grain.

The research project began in 2020 and was scheduled to run for fifteen years. "You're not even halfway through before it has to stop. At that point, you can't really draw many conclusions," WUR researcher Pieter de Wolf told Omroep Flevoland. Research that has secured its own funding will continue, including trials with strip cropping and crop protection.

Vulnerable
"The pause in Lelystad shows that this type of research is vulnerable," says De Wolf. "But we also see how much value is placed on places where agricultural innovation converges through research, dialogue, and experience. That need still exists."

Despite the setback, project leaders Pieter de Wolf and Lennart Fuchs are optimistic about the project's future. However, they do note that continuation after 2026 requires a different funding base. "It's important that we become less dependent on large public subsidies and focus more on public-private partnerships. We therefore call on businesses, agricultural organizations, and other partners to invest. At the same time, we're asking national government to give regions more space and resources for area-based policies. We are currently in discussions with the province of Flevoland to shape a renewed partnership."