Rather let citizen piss outside from the tent

The new clubs and collectives in the agricultural sector tumble over each other. Every week a new initiative is launched that should provide a solution to a problem or even lead to an overall transition. Remarkably enough, all initiatives have only 2 flavours.

One flavor is a variant of the existing system and can be described as 'never hungry again'. To some it tastes sweet like strawberries, to others sour like crazy milk. The other flavor is a form of circular agriculture and can be described as 'no more waste'. For some this is a new taste like umami, for others it tastes bitter like sprouts.

Then we've had all the flavors except salt. You can say that both are saltless visions of the future. But what are we missing? We miss the real tastemakers. We miss the farmer and we miss the citizen. In all visions they are just cogs in a system. They are actors in a movie, the ending of which is already known. They are the missing ingredients in a bland meal.

Limited Choices
See the world from a farmer's yard. What choices do you have then? In theory, you can change your entire company and start doing everything differently. In practice you can do surprisingly little. You can plant a little more potatoes and sow a little less grain. You can plow at 10 centimeters or at 20 centimeters. You can buy a milking robot or not. You have limited choices. And you can afford no or few wrong choices. Individual farmers can spontaneously go into transition, but do not assume in a vision that the sector will make big leaps on its own.

Who has more and more room to make choices? The citizen. No, not the consumer who does his shopping every week. The citizen. Fewer and fewer children, more and more part-time work, more and more retirees and nothing fun on TV anymore. The Dutch citizen is bored to death and is looking for meaning.

Of course, these good citizens already volunteer. They serve coffee in nursing homes, they pollard willows with the nature club and they look for lost balls along the tennis court. However, there is also a group that would like to roll up their sleeves on the farm. Mucking out stables, moving goats, peeling bulbs, reading potatoes, but maybe also doing something about marketing and communication. Undoubtedly, they will quickly feel involved in farming.

Put in money and think along
And then there are the people who no longer want to lose their money in the savings account and are therefore looking for an investment. Preferably one with 'purpose' and 'passion'. Why couldn't more citizens become sizeable in a farm? They put in money and then they automatically think along. Let them join in the business.

As a farmer, you bring in fresh capital, but also commitment and brainpower. And yes, maybe also people who will interfere with you. But they do. It's better to have people peeing from the tent outside than from outside the tent.

This is of course not a vision with a clear final image, but there are already enough visions of the 'what' and the 'when'. There is never a vision of the 'how'. Let's start with a renewed acquaintance and cooperation between farmer and citizen. There may be more to this than we can imagine right now. Start with humans. Add flavor to life. Put the salt back in the porridge.

André Hoogendijk

André Hoogendijk has been director of the Branch Organization (BO) Arable Farming since 1 September 2019. Collaboration and research are important spearheads for him.

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