Opinions Herre Bartlema

Schouten boosts circular agriculture

13 September 2018 - Herre Bartlema - 11 comments

The promotion of circular agriculture in the Netherlands has been given a major boost by the publication of the agricultural vision of Minister Carola Schouten (Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality). When this was established, it was already clear that broad support within the sector could be counted on.

Due to the professional and sympathetic presentation of the vision that support has become even wider and it has also become considerably thicker and more robust. There is therefore a high probability that the target will be achieved by 2030. You can expect that, because transition is technically not complicated and economically attractive for agricultural entrepreneurs.

This is mainly due to the fact that the cost prices fall and the products acquire a unique characteristic. This is because it is a circularly produced product from the Netherlands. And the Netherlands is then a frontrunner in circular agriculture.

Convert into actions
The sooner the bill is converted into actions, the better it is for the sector and society. The symposium to be held on October 10th is an impetus for this: 'Roadmap for a circular agriculture† This symposium will be held on Sustainability Day and representatives from politics, business and science will give their views on the path to follow. In the vegetable and animal sector, according to the organizing committee of that day mainly to accelerate the next technical developments.

Circularity of crop production is in large part a matter of using circular fertilizers instead of chemical fertilizers, a route that has been successfully followed as far back as 1990. Since then, fertilizer consumption has halved. In 2018, this means that the sector has the infrastructure and many practical examples that enable this development to be accelerated.

The technique comes down to low-emission placing organic and inorganic plant nutrients from the circular economy in the root zone: at the right time, with the right dosage and in the right form. We are now good at that and it delivers top yields. In addition, the supply of circular fertilizers is more than sufficient in terms of quality and quantity.

Closing cycles
We are also well on the way in closing the cycles in animal production, especially by replacing concentrates with roughage† This lucrative route has been chosen by a growing number of livestock farmers in recent years, see for example the statistics of the Fertile Cycle project of LTO Noord.

The ministry also recognizes that promoting circularity is about keeping pace with ongoing developments. You can safely speak of a winning horse and that, as the saying goes, only needs free rein to win the race. In the view of the organization of the symposium, this means: "Leaving plenty of room for the craftsmanship of agricultural entrepreneurs in consultation with government and science."

The professionals are in the starting blocks with regard to sustainability. The actions, which will be presented at the symposium in Wageningen, are a response to this. This is how . gets the symposium due to current events suddenly the character of a kick-off meeting for the transition to a circular agriculture. The sector does what it promises.

Herre Bartlema

Herre Bartlema is chairman of the NCOK: Netherlands Center for the Development of Circular Precision Agriculture. The aim: to promote the application of practical precision farming techniques to contribute to a clean sector.
Comments
11 comments
hans 13 September 2018
This is a response to this article:
[url=http://www.boerenbusiness.nl/ondernemen/blogs/column/10879927/schouten-gave-circulaire-landbouw-impuls][/url]
According to Herre:
"The products have a unique characteristic. That characteristic is that it is a circularly produced product from the Netherlands. And the Netherlands is then a frontrunner in circular agriculture."

First part is correct.
But not 2nd at all.
In many, most European and almost all countries, livestock farming is linked to land. The roughage AND the concentrates are grown themselves. And for cows, AND for pigs and chickens.
The Netherlands follows in this circular agriculture, but will NEVER be able to compete with the prevailing land prices.
I do not know 13 September 2018
I wonder what the problem actually is in agriculture. The yields are higher than they were 25 years ago. Arable farming largely cleans up manure, betacal (beet waste), protamylasse (starch waste) and organic waste. All this happened with the exception of manure 25 years ago, or hardly at all, and there has also been an enormous reduction in fertilizer and active ingredient in crop protection products. In arable farming there is more than enough room to process more manure when the spreading rules and N and P placement space are increased a bit. Make flying just as expensive as 20 years ago, for a few euros back and forth to Spain that is good for the environment....
Skirt 14 September 2018
Oh forget Schouten, she doesn't give the vision hands and feet, all empty words for the stage. The business model of the vision is impossible in the real world without great political courage to introduce new legislation for this in which the farmer is compensated or paid and the consumer spends considerably more on food, it would not look out of place in a fairy tale book.
herre bartlema 14 September 2018
Thanks responders for the comments. We are happy to use it when drawing up the CIRCULAR AGRICULTURE 2018/2019 ACTION PLAN, which we are currently working on. Many actions can already be initiated without much cost and without much extra effort. Presentation : October 10 next in Wageningen.
herre bartlema 14 September 2018
Thanks responders for the comments. We are happy to use it when drawing up the CIRCULAR AGRICULTURE 2018/2019 ACTION PLAN, which we are currently working on. Many actions can already be initiated without much cost and effort. Presentation : October 10 next in Wageningen.
Subscriber
Dirk 14 September 2018
kjol wrote:
Oh forget Schouten, she doesn't give the vision hands and feet, all empty words for the stage. The business model of the vision is impossible in the real world without great political courage to introduce new legislation for this in which the farmer is compensated or paid and the consumer spends considerably more on food, it would not look out of place in a fairy tale book.


well, what is a political statement worth? Sometimes nothing. We shall see. Don't worry about it for now, I'd say.
Subscriber
Risseeuw Ann 14 September 2018
Mrs Schouten positive thought , thinking , it will not be obvious to this fierce vision that is good ( there are always hooks and eyes here and there ) but goodwill of the farmers , the people and of course Mrs. the minister , all together , Wageningen , Wur , will certainly help , build bridges to get the future of circular agriculture on the road , think together , especially good feed back , we have to go for it , thanks Mrs. Schouten Your thinking work is the start of a journey .... to ...
jpk 14 September 2018
As a professional pear grower of conference pears, I hope that the summer of 2018 will never happen again. Russia was and is a death blow, but this summer is very unfavorable for pear cultivation, see the examples Spain and Italy. to make the world go down is necessary, but all tools that make this successful must be tapped, e.g. gmo crispr cas and the nicotine greenpeace and ngo only bring fake news to the ignorant consumer about these topics
harm 15 September 2018
there is no problem created by the state. simply increase the manure to be supplied by double the standard per hec . and come with a mandatory rotation of 1 in 5 for all crops, then most of it will be out of the air. fertilizer is still needed to make adjustments and it is precise. the great death knell in agriculture is that everyone wants to put their stamp on it and all want to eat the farmer's hay rack empty and offer absolutely no added value think they know it all for someone else but they don't bake anything from it themselves. wasn't mr bartelma the man of fertilizer precision agriculture? that can now also go in the trash, because now it all has to be with animal manure again, so then one dives into this again. we live in a backward country with line upon line bah. let go of the reins of the grower himself a little more, otherwise there will be no more growers left by 2030 if this nonsense continues
FB 16 September 2018
We used to talk about the Rotterdam hole (the import of feed, so minerals from America), does the manure now have to go back to close the cycle or will this hole finally be closed?
hans 16 September 2018
FB, aren't we "the largest exporter of agricultural products in the world"?
I don't think there should be more out, but more in.

Or is this fairy tale suddenly no longer believed?
theo 17 September 2018
What is circular about manure from animals that grow up with imported grain and soya, which is grown with fertilizer? This manure is nothing but fertilizer in a different form. It is therefore nonsense to subordinate artificial fertilizer to animal manure.
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