Huirne: 'Choose from strength, not from cramp'

"Make your sustainability choices out of strength and not out of cramp", said Ruud Huirne, director of Food & Agri Rabobank Nederland, on Thursday 30 November at the National Economic Agriculture Congress in Bunnik. According to Huirne, there is plenty of room for entrepreneurship in the Netherlands, but within the green limits.

In any case, the future for farmers is bright, says Huirne. The increasing world population and prosperity provides opportunities and the right to exist. "After all, the availability of food must increase to feed humanity." The challenge is therefore: "produce more, with fewer farmers and it must be more sustainable." According to Huirne, efficient chains are necessary to sell food.

Huirne believes that sustainability should not be at the expense of the competitive position of Dutch agriculture. On the other hand, there is social acceptance for farms. According to the banker, the confrontation between international competition versus social acceptance is becoming increasingly important. This is also the core of the coalition agreement, which according to Huirne reads: Entrepreneurship within green boundaries, such as animal welfare and emissions. "Feed farmers who understand this thrust, there is a future."

Important choices
This means that farmers have to make choices. According to Huirne, this can be done in 3 ways: proactive, following and reactive. "Tomorrow's winners are the companies that make choices and pay attention to the market. This can be the global market as well as a niche market," says Huirne.

"With proactive choices, there is often a precursor premium. Reactive choices are usually forced by laws and regulations, and then the precursor premium has often already been removed." Incidentally, the organic grass at the neighbor is not always greener, as Huirne knows from experience at Rabobank. "So only make a choice when you actually support it."

Wouter Job

Wouter Baan is editor-in-chief of Boerenbusiness. He also focuses on dairy, pig and meat markets. He also follows (business) developments within agribusiness and interviews CEOs and policymakers.

w.baan@boerenbusiness. Nl

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