Think big when it comes to the future of Dutch agriculture. Then perspectives emerge that can give our global reputation a new foundation. This starts with an environmental policy that distinguishes between soil - based agriculture and indoor food production . Two fundamentally different development directions, each with different location requirements. That is why we must invest in the redevelopment of urban and rural areas in the coming decades. In this way we can be an example for 'metropolitan agriculture' in other densely populated parts of the world.
Jannemarie de Jonge is the government advisor for the physical living environment. She advises the government solicited and unsolicited on environmental policy, which used to be called spatial planning. A challenging role in a crowded country where agriculture and food production compete increasingly fiercely with other priorities such as clean air, clean water, biodiversity, infrastructure, nature, recreation and sufficient housing.
Making Dutch agriculture, nature and food production future-proof requires an in-depth and long-term process. Comparable to the decades of land consolidation in the previous century. A fundamental approach to reorganize companies without prospects for the future; but above all to further develop Dutch agriculture with its knowledge system into a testing ground for all those metropolises in the world that sooner or later run into similar problems.
Farmers are good
The current nitrogen problem is a symptom of a broader problem: Dutch agriculture exceeds the boundaries of nature. Soil and water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions not only threaten the planet, but also affect the yielding capacity of the soil itself. "Note: most farmers are good. They don't work that intensively because they like it. They are slaves to a system that is based on maximizing yields and that does not take sufficient account of the carrying capacity of mother earth. Many farmers want it differently, but still don't see enough opportunities," emphasizes De Jonge.
Knowledge of the last century
The stalemate described arises from what De Jonge calls the 'traditional agricultural knowledge system': developed and elaborated down to the finest detail by Wageningen agricultural engineers. "That system was mainly aimed at yield maximization and did not pay enough attention to the carrying capacity of the natural system." Today, new agricultural knowledge is needed that makes use of what we can learn from nature: look at the balance in the system, use principles such as resilience, cycles and symbiosis. Knowledge about the soil is therefore about the interaction between physical, chemical and biological aspects. "Agriculture is part of the life sciences, it is 'living nature' science."
Choices
That does not happen automatically, De Jonge knows. "Political choices are necessary. If we want to tackle climate change, the government must tax CO2 emissions more heavily." Something similar is going on with regard to the desired shift in the diet towards less meat and more plant-based. "That will not work with commercials," says De Jonge. Making vegetables cheaper and meat more expensive seems like a better idea to her. Such a shift is also much healthier. "You can now also see it with energy. We have known for years that we have to save, but only when Putin turns a knob and gas becomes much more expensive, do we reduce our consumption by 25 percent."
Area-oriented
Although political decisiveness is sometimes hard to find in current affairs, De Jonge expects that the new frameworks for agriculture will become increasingly clear. "You can see it now with nitrogen, something similar will happen with water quality and greenhouse gas emissions. And don't forget that the Animals Act has been in force since the end of last year, which sets far-reaching requirements for the welfare of farm animals." In short: the challenges for farmers are piling up, especially in combination with desiccation and salinisation as a result of climate change. This calls for reconsideration, new revenue models, climate-robust crops, innovation and system change. One of the conditions is the different layout of the rural area. "You now see that the difficult spatial choices regarding the nature objectives are on the plate of the provinces with the so-called area-oriented approach. An understandable step in itself, but that takes time," De Jonge analyzes. "Buying out the large peak loaders in the short term, also outside agriculture, is unavoidable." And then the area-oriented approach will evolve into a longer-term and more in-depth redesign than many people now realise, the government adviser predicts.
Development and remediation
She draws a parallel with the O&S fund, which in the XNUMXs and XNUMXs steered agricultural development in the direction of large-scale development and intensification. "At the time there was agreement about the goal: to produce more cheap food and to offer farmers who could not afford it a way out with compensation for business termination." Combined with the land consolidation, this led to an acceleration of development in the direction desired at the time. "We can now do something similar again, based on the vision that we have to move towards balance with nature." In concrete terms, this means that all parties involved in a region sit around the table and work towards new forms of agriculture and food production. "So not just the focus on buying out, but using the available billions to develop new perspectives with all parties involved: farmers, nature managers, water boards, municipalities, etc. We must not forget parties from the city. That takes a lot of time, money and effort costs, but can yield us something great," predicts De Jonge.
Jannemarie de Jonge
Revaluation of togetherness
What's that great then? De Jonge does not want to make it more beautiful than it is. Farmers will have to stop their current business operations. That could mean termination, as is already happening every day due to market-driven economies of scale. But also transformation, for example from a specialized livestock farm with a lot of purchases of feed from far, to a mixed farm with vegetable food production. "For soil-based agriculture, we have to look much more precisely at what soil, water and climate conditions mean; which crops can best be grown where, whether or not in combination with livestock to provide healthy manure."
Transformation is possible additional activities such as care and recreation on farms, sales in short chains, organic agriculture, closed cycles, rewards for system services such as natural values, clean water and CO2 storage. The combination of type of entrepreneur and location is decisive. Area-oriented cooperation will then become more important, because entrepreneurs must complement each other instead of competing. Together you can achieve more than alone. It is a development that De Jonge calls "revaluation of the commons". This involves more joint organization of, for example, marketing and sales, but also the collective ownership and/or management of machines or even land. What used to be called the 'meent', 'brink' or 'marke'. De Jonge is also a member of a land cooperative in which citizens invest in land that is leased to an organic dairy farmer. "You see more and more initiatives in which farmers work together with groups of citizens, such as Aardpeer, Land van Ons, Wijland and Herenboeren. This fits in with the trend towards more cooperatives and transparent cooperation. It can make it easier for farmers to finance land or take over a business ."
Large-scale food production in buildings
Rural areas with valuable soils deserve protection against urbanization, but large-scale, industrial food production does not belong here either. Nevertheless, further development of the highly productive intensive livestock farming that the Netherlands now knows has a future. But in suitable places and in closed systems that do not burden the environment. In De Jonge's vision, it should concentrate on specific locations where industrial scale is combined with circularity (animal feed based on residual flows) and maximum animal welfare. Kipster on an industrial estate? "You could call it that. I expect that initiatives like this can arise in specific regions. The inventiveness that our agri-chains have shown so far can also result in innovative projects like this."
Innovative technologies are also under development. Such as the so-called precision fermentation, which revolves around using modified bacteria for the production of, for example, protein components in our food. It can help reduce the excess of animal products in our diet. Because large-scale food production in buildings involves intensive traffic, specific location policy is required, as is the case with other industry and greenhouse horticulture, aimed at utilizing the main infrastructure and synergy between the companies.
Hardly needed
"So we don't just need a knowledge boost for soil-based agriculture in rural areas. Circular industrial production systems are also needed to feed the world. Extensive agriculture alone would lead to much more land use and ditto nature destruction," explains Jannemarie de Jonge. We desperately need Dutch farmers to develop such a new agricultural knowledge system. "If we want to feed those 2050 billion people in 10 without destroying the planet, we have to make full use of all insights: from agro-ecological farming to the latest technology."
Experiment garden
All these developments not only offer new perspectives for farmers and the agro-industry, but also for the knowledge system. "We are then mainly a testing ground to learn how you can produce sufficient food in a densely populated and urbanized country within the carrying capacity of the earth. In my vision, that will be our new export product: knowledge about food for metropolises. Don't forget that for more than half of the world's population lives in cities. This development continues, so there is a growing market for this new knowledge."
AGRICULTURE IN 2040
according to Jannemarie de Jonge
This sponsored article is part of the series 'Speakers of the Future', an initiative of the Food Transition Coalition. In this series of interviews, written by Jeen Akkerman, visionaries give their views on the future of food production in the Netherlands. The editors of Boerenbusiness is not responsible for the content of these publications.