Entrepreneurship is necessary, but not enough

They were beautiful weeks to tour around, so between mid-June and mid-July. In arable farming, the crops are full in the field, the potatoes are blooming, the grain is starting to change colour. I have good memories of a few rounds through the polders, and especially from the dikes you can often look deep into plots. At our house, this led to the necessary comments earlier than necessary: ​​"Remains behind, sown late", "polluted plot", "does not disappoint for that slushy soil". I'll leave it open for a moment whether this was to let potential business successors in the back seat learn something from it or to have comments. It did, however, raise a question: are the differences in the state of the crop (and later the yield) due to chance, to the soil or to the craftsmanship of the farmer involved?

That question was answered in 1972 in the Wageningen dissertation Farmer and Operating result from LC ('Vinus') Zachariasse. The Zeeland farmer's son grew up in the Noordoostpolder and convinced 29 farmers there to participate in his research. The situation resembled what we now call a 'natural experiment' in science: farmers had started right there, had the same farm area, the same buildings, on a similar plot and soil, and the weather conditions were also more or less the same. In short, the only thing that really made the difference were the farmers with their qualities in craftsmanship. In that context, all sorts of measurements were taken, both in terms of activities (sowing dates, whether or not potatoes pre-sprout, method of tillage, etc.) and the results.

After processing the data, the results made a big impression, also among farmers themselves: the income differences turned out to be large. In lectures, the author sometimes summarized it as differences the size of a minister's salary (that was still looked upon at the time). And that between farmers who had been selected for their craftsmanship for a company in the new polder. It was mainly the operational decisions in the spring work that made the difference (it is difficult to correct afterwards). The better farmers turned out to be able to relate well to the growth behavior of young plants in the (sometimes too) cold soil and the spring weather. The willingness to take a critical look at one's own decisions and actions turned out to be extremely important to keep the company profitable.

Zachariasse continued his career at the Agricultural Economics Institute and later became its director. This type of research, together with experimental stations and extension services, has also been carried out in other types of farms and also specifically in crops (I have already written about ware potatoes here). The research in the NOP was later supplemented and it appeared that some had become aware of their position in the lower regions and had improved. The message had not been given to others. For those who are still looking for a topic for a thesis: it would be interesting to see how Flevoland is becoming more and more like the old land and how some smaller companies have grown from 24 to 240 hectares and others are still farmers on 48 hectares, although or not with a different business setup.

Craftsmanship and entrepreneurship matter
Craftsmanship and entrepreneurship therefore matter and are essential to meet today's challenges. However, I don't think you can just turn it around: by no means all income problems can be dismissed as: your own fault, big bump. Bad luck or general market developments also play a role. If a company stops or becomes too small for succession, this is not an automatic judgment about the skills of the entrepreneur. In fact, good entrepreneurship can also mean that you set your sails to the wind and choose a different path. Nor does it mean that political choices in area development can only be solved with an appeal to entrepreneurship and innovation. Entrepreneurs cannot do without good compensation in the event of sudden contraction and the development of markets for other activities. If that perspective is not provided, inverted flags draw attention away from the view of the crops.

Krijn J. Poppe

Krijn Poppe worked for almost 40 years as an economist at LEI and Wageningen UR and now holds a number of advisory and management positions. For Boerenbusiness he dives into his bookcase and discusses current developments on the basis of studies that have become classic.

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