Start from the special characteristics that an area has. Work with nature to create the basis for value-added food and unique services. In your approach, involve others who can help you and who also see the added value of 'the regenerative polder'. This creates a new revenue model. Dairy farmer Joost van Schie has a dream. In 2040, his farm, which he now runs in partnership with his father Jan, will be the heart of a regenerative polder landscape that produces special cheese. The road to get there is long, sometimes winding and full of challenges and surprises. For Joost, that is an extra stimulus, he is not a fan of the beaten track.
The latter was also the case with his parents, who converted the traditional farm where cheese has been made for years into an organic company as early as the last century. "They talked about it for a long time, but in the end it wasn't a big decision, they slowly grew towards it," says Joost.
At that time he was not really involved in the farm himself. He remembers sitting at the table with the family at the age of twelve. "On the one side you saw the stable with the cows. My head kept turning the other way, where you saw the rest of the world across the water, which I preferred to discover."
Over the water can be taken literally. The farm, with the romantic name De Loneliness, is located on an island near Warmond (ZH). You can only get there by water. Joost picks us up with a small motorboat and we sail to the yard. Along a large ferry that is moored next to the farm. "It's for transferring cheese, cattle and machines," explains the young farmer.
High cost
It is, to put it mildly, not a standard situation and certainly not a place where you can move forward according to current standards. Enlargement of the farm is difficult (there is only one other farm on the island), the peat meadow soil (clay on peat) is not very resilient and the access is not only special, but also increases costs. Joost himself sees this very clearly. He left for Amsterdam after high school, graduated in economics and worked successfully for large companies for many years. "We developed sustainable products and services based on the idea that new revenue models are needed now that we realize that we cannot endlessly burden the planet."
Nice work, a good income and see a lot of the world. Yet it started to gnaw at Joost. That place where he had grown up, what was going to happen to it? Would his parents' company eventually disappear? Or… would it be possible to develop a new basis for a revenue model here, just like with his corporate clients? A kind of 'business development' in the polder.
Route Regenerative 2040
He immersed himself in the many aspects of regenerative agriculture, spoke to friends and other farmers who are looking for new ways and took the plunge in 2020. He moved back to the polder and, together with experts in the field of landscape, water, ecology and business administration, investigated what regenerative agriculture means on the 45 hectares of grassland and 25 hectares of natural land that belong to the farm. 50 Montbéliarde dairy cows now graze on it. These produce milk with approximately the same amount of fat as protein, a good basis for making good cheese.
The most important insights that Joost gained are:
Stable and cheese dairy
He shows the stables for the cattle. They are old and need to be replaced. "We are working on getting a building permit for a new stable and cheese dairy, which is a better place for the animals and where we can collect urine and manure separately. Solid manure is much better for our soil and for the meadow birds."
Building the new barn is a major investment. Heavy piling is required to prevent subsidence. And all materials must be brought in by boat. "It means investing a lot, while we can't farm super efficiently or on a large scale. In addition, my father will slow down in a few years and we will have to arrange at least 2 FTE labor instead. Our challenge is to become more sustainable. to be able to farm more sustainably," Joost summarizes the situation succinctly. A good balance between short and long chain sales and an additional branch in the field of recreation or education are probably necessary.
No prescription
An additional challenge is that there is no ready-made recipe for the business that Joost strives for. He cannot ask the feed supplier for advice on how to feed his cows, because he does not feed his cows silage maize or exotic raw materials. "That spoils the taste of our cheese, so we don't start with that." There is also no unequivocal advice for the management of his land that he can follow. "We are working with the water board and Deltares to find out how we can best manage the polder, so that we increase biodiversity, improve water quality and reduce CO2 hold in the peat package. For the latter, we mapped out various options and conducted an experiment with the summer flooding of the country. Next year there will be another experiment on a larger scale, because there are actually no examples that we can follow."
Harvest
In order to bring his cheese to the attention of consumers in the region, Joost recently started his own Oogst store in Leiden. It is a franchise formula where a local farmer runs his own shop. In addition to Joost's store in Leiden, there is now also a branch of farmer Ramona in Woerden. Unique to the concept, with the promise of 'Good food from close by', is that the products are not only tasty and healthy, but also sustainably and locally produced and that there are no staff in the store. Consumers can open the shop door via an app, choose their products and pay. "Yes, that's going well. Of course you run the risk that people take things without paying, but that hasn't happened so far. Most people are good," says Joost.
Technology
The store example shows that Joost is not averse to modern technology. "I think there are also possibilities to carry out the work on our land with lighter machines. Or we can use drones to monitor the meadow birds. I am certainly open to that, regenerative agriculture is not going back to Ot en Sien. I wants to use every opportunity to give our company a new future based on what nature offers us here." As an entrepreneur, he can use help from all kinds of authorities, but according to Joost, the most important thing is that governments make the right choices. "The government must honor the position of farmers who work with nature in its policy. They only have to follow the recommendations in the Green farmers plan and we are taking a big step forward." And provinces and municipalities can also do their bit by giving space to regenerative agriculture.
Fewer obstacles and a clear choice for farmers with nature. Actually, that is all that Joost van Schie asks. Then he can complete his search for that special cheese from that unique polder landscape a little more easily. Together with others who also experience that you contribute to a better life with space for nature and healthy food. If that works out, is the name De Loneliness still appropriate for the farm, we ask Joost. He looks across the water for a moment, turns around and says, "Maybe we can take out four letters, then it's The Unity."
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.