Scaling up continues unabated

In 2000, there were 97.400 agricultural and horticultural companies in the Netherlands. In 23 years, almost half of that weight has been lost. In 2023 there were 51.000 companies. The average SO was €2000 in 194.000 and €2023 in 539.000.

The area of ​​cultivated land in the Netherlands has shrunk by 2000% in the period from 2023 to 9. The average size of a company has increased from 20 hectares in 2000 to 36 hectares in 2023. Companies with more than 30 hectares are relatively common in the north. In Groningen and Friesland, 69% and 67% of companies respectively have more than 30 hectares. In South Holland, more than a third of companies are smaller than 5 hectares. Some of these companies are greenhouse horticulture companies.

Grassland
By far the largest area is used as grassland in the Netherlands with 53% or 958.000 hectares in 2023. This is followed by arable farming with 547.000 hectares. While grass and arable areas have decreased over the last 23 years, the area of ​​open-field horticulture has grown by 2000% since 14 to 92.000 hectares in 2023. The area of ​​greenhouse horticulture has shrunk slightly by 3% to 10.200 during this period.

In the Netherlands, there is a lot of criticism from some social parties about 'mega stables' and economies of scale, and there are calls for change. The Rutte 4 cabinet may have focused on this, but you would almost say it had the opposite effect.

Seen in that light, it is interesting to draw a comparison with the US. In the early 1970s, agricultural policy there was also aimed at increasing scale. This is hardly reflected in the number of hectares under an agricultural company, according to recent figures from the USDA. In 440, the average farm size in the US was 180 acres (just under 464 hectares). That has grown to 190 acres (just under 2023 hectares) in 1970. For comparison, the average size in the Netherlands in 11,58 was 36 hectares according to CBS and that has therefore more than tripled to 2023 hectares in XNUMX.