Dutch farmer leads the way in environmental saving

Karin 1 August 2017

This is a response to this article:
[url=http://www.boerenbusiness.nl/algemeen/ artikel/10875382/nederlandse-boer-koploper-in-environmental-saving][/url]

It's great that there is also positive news about our sector! I hope that organizations such as Wakker Dier, Varkens in Nood and the Party for the Animals will also present this news on their sites!

bookscook 1 August 2017

Just forget it Karin, they don't. They only bring in criticism of the industry because that is their raison d'être. Only in this way do they receive support from the postcode lottery, and that is what they live on!

jpkievit 1 August 2017

If 9 out of ten farmers stop, green peace has achieved the goal
If the clientele still refuses to pay the consumerbomb 50% more for the food, there is no future for the Dutch professionals
Too bad

Hans Olff 2 August 2017

As far as I'm concerned this is a very misleading message. See my explanation why here
https://www.facebook.com/notes/han-olff/misleidende-stellingname-van-abn-amro-over-milieu-impact-nederlandse-landbouw/10212285036195373/

Bertus Buzzer 2 August 2017

Expressing the environmental impact per kg agricultural product (a very unusual, short-sighted definition!) is mainly done by ecomodernists as an alibi for further intensification and for the input of chemical substances into Dutch agriculture. But they conveniently forget that fertilizers and pesticides that end up in the environment don't stick to farm boundaries.

In conventional Dutch agriculture, an increase in production is accompanied by an increased use of NPK fertilizers. In combination with chemical pesticides and increasing soil settlement, the soil in the Netherlands is becoming depleted (trace elements) and the soil ecology is further affected. Sugar beet cannot really be called a food crop, although the better soil is used for it. Such a crop and also energy crops do not really contribute to combating food scarcity.

With regard to food scarcity in Africa: Europe (including the Netherlands) use approximately 10 million hectares of agricultural land in Africa for food production. Europe (including the Netherlands).

The increase in productivity in uncovered crops is more likely due to developments in classical crop breeding than to good soil management. An illustration of this is that the crop yields in the Flevopolders no longer increase despite the higher yield potentials due to breeding (see research by the Louis Bolk Institute / WUR).

bookscook 2 August 2017

Dear Bertus, would you like to claim that there is less environmental pollution per amount of food in other countries? Or is it better there because it's not near you? Or do they do everything organic there?
And when it comes to depleting the natural soil fertility, I have to agree with you for the Netherlands, but do you think it is so much better in other countries?
Here too, just as here, business economic rules apply, which are the cause of the worldwide tendency towards monocultures. This happens with soy, corn, but also rice, etc.
If you then think that things will get better if the government regulates food production and sidelines economic rules, then I would like to remind you of the former Eastern Bloc countries and their food systems with their insecurities and how well that worked!
In short, Bertus, I think that we should all move towards more nature-integrated production methods and you can contribute to that too. But kicking against the current agriculture is counterproductive in the growth towards it. What would help is a Dutch government that actually facilitates independent research into more natural production methods and does not stop at showing the foreign audience how well Wageningen is doing, and then does not spend a single euro on it in its own country! Putting effort into making this realization permeate politics can be much more productive for our environment than stepping on a hard-working and not unsympathetic agricultural sector!

Michael bus 3 August 2017

Nice response Berthus. Only nobody understands that. People like to be fooled. Meanwhile, sector importance goes for public health.

Berry 3 August 2017

There is no indication of food scarcity in the price of wheat, among other things. Then it is not surprising that growers are looking for alternatives such as sugar beets or energy crops

Bertus Buzzer 4 August 2017

Moreover, the environmental impact of the cultivation of GMO soy in South America for the Dutch import of protein-rich animal feed (70% of the total, excluding grass?) is not included.

bookscook 4 August 2017

Dear Bertus, now you have to stop whining about Africa and South America!
If the Africans rolled up their sleeves themselves, they would have enough food, no need for so-called development aid, and therefore desperately needed the land themselves. Other countries were not covered. Furthermore, those countries have a political structure that I, but also you, can't change anything, and which therefore encourages the oil states and Asians to take a lot of land! In South America, we do not choose to grow GMO crops, but the farmers there do it themselves. There are also governments that desperately need the export of soya and maize to keep their population friendly and those farmers themselves must also somewhere to live!
In short, Bertus, I don't like it all either, but your pension fund is also probably doing things with your money that don't make you and I happy, but did you want to waive your pension?
In short, Bertus, as long as the globe rotates and we use money or something else as a means of exchange or we even live and exchange TOGETHER at all, things will go wrong, has always been and will remain so.

Skirt 4 August 2017

What escapes me from Bertus's story is what his goal is now. Perhaps the goal is not to grow anything in Africa for Europe? The goal might be to scrap sugar beet cultivation? The goal might be to stop growing Dutch products? The goal might be to supply only the most necessary food completely in Europe to grow organically and to allow food prices to sky-high and thereby starve the lower income groups. I would like to hear from Bertus what he really wants, a plan of action.

boer 4 August 2017

Good response Kjol. Substantive discussion is better than belittling each other.

Bertus Buzzer 4 August 2017

@Bookeskook and @Kjol, okay, I'll give it a try here then. Thank you for your response by the way.

The purpose of my response to the above article is to indicate that and why the statement that the Dutch farmer is a frontrunner in environmental conservation is incorrect. Moreover, this statement seems to me to be a completely unnecessary compliment to the farmer. If you also see from which quarter this misleading statement mainly comes and is confirmed - let me just call this the establishment, banking and agro-industry, the same people who pat the farmers on the head at winter meetings - then the farmers should be allowed to fear that they will be spawned, like, boys, girls, keep it up. You can guess who has ultimately built up the best pension for themselves.
No, I imagine Dutch agriculture and horticulture that creates added value from what the market and society demand, in a sustainable and future-oriented way. This does not necessarily have to be organic, but at least as much agro-ecological as possible. Good, but also expensive labour, soil, knowledge, machines, livestock, such as seeds, seed and planting material, livestock, soil life, pollinating insects, birds of prey and predators, and other important factors such as clean air and sufficiently available clean water in The Netherlands is making sure that instead of bulk and overproduction (milk, sugar beet...) we use more high-quality (knowledge-intensive) and natural resources.
and environmentally friendly products and crops for the local, national and European market. Overproduction not only affects the subsidized Dutch farmer, but also the vast number of colleagues in Africa, Asia and South America. They usually do not receive any subsidy. But I think they are open to good seed, and suitable methods and techniques (for cultivation, soil and water management, disease prevention, product storage, etc). We are talking about hundreds of millions of farmers. We could reinforce each other instead of competing.

We can grow GMO-free protein-rich crops in the Netherlands. The market demand for this is growing and we are no longer dependent on land grabbing (in Africa) and deforestation (Africa and South America). All this and much more requires a change of mind from time to time.

Skirt 5 August 2017

Exactly what you mention is currently going on, the route to it may not be the route you have in mind, but many roads lead to Rome. The problem at this point in the whole discussion is not where we are going, but rather how we are going to get there. However, we must now keep in mind that we are throwing the baby out with the bathwater, because then we will be left empty-handed, the negative discussions that often put agriculture in the dark are very counterproductive.

Skirt 5 August 2017

What often remains underexposed in the media is the relentless attitude that supermarkets take when a grower tries to grow in a more environmentally friendly way. If there is a stain or the like as a result of this on the delivered product, it will be the responsibility of the grower straight away. This very bad attitude on the part of the supermarkets is a serious obstacle to arriving at a different way of growing.

Roy 5 August 2017

The market that regulates it Bertus. So your story that we are growing the wrong products is nonsense. There was already too much of edible products such as lettuce, cabbage, onions and carrots in the Netherlands last year.
Sustainable and future-oriented yes. See the chip factories with their Polish potatoes and the supermarkets that buy from another party for a cent. These are the buyers of the products, if you want a change you will have to deal with them and not their suppliers.

Markt 5 August 2017

And who contributes to the market Roy?

Lowest environmental impact

42

procent

Niels van der Boom

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