Get rid of labels like conventional and organic

We live in a time when some expressions, traditions and words have come under a magnifying glass. Because they hurt, exclude, polarize or just aren't appropriate anymore. As if it's not enough, I'm also making a dime. I have great difficulty with the labels 'conventional/regular' and 'organic' in our sector. I argue in favor of throwing this form of pigeonholing overboard. Get rid of it.

This simplistic categorization stands in the way of a lot of flexibility and innovative power that our sector desperately needs. Nor does it represent that powerful, unified fist that we want to see on a regular basis. This oversimplified black-and-white layout definitely does not indicate the colorful, diverse practice. Only full acceptance of the variety of agricultural operations by everyone in the food chain will make Dutch agriculture and horticulture ready for the future.

Generic Measures
I hear you think: they are just words after all. But is not the pen mightier than the sword? It is self-imposed framing that seriously shorts our agriculture. A narrow framing that does not do our agricultural entrepreneurs justice. I understand the thinking behind it. Fragmented farming activities captured in these terms make them traceable and verifiable by government agencies. And they can go wild from Brussels and The Hague with generic measures that fall like one big bureaucratic blanket over these two alleged groups of farmers.

I googled the word 'common':What is often used and used or what is often asked for'. Synonyms are: common, common and current. Have you ever heard of a common baker, a common painter or a common construction company? Not me. The boxes 'conventional' and 'organic' also suggest that the conventional farmer is not concerned with nature. Which of course it is. Common is not right, biological(-dynamic) is not left. The truth always lies in the middle.

Robust cultivation system
The so-called conventional agricultural companies have now started experimenting with the help of external knowledge sources and technological aids such as robots, sensors and drones to adapt, to improve towards a resilient and robust cultivation system. Much less chemical crop protection agents and fertilizers are then needed. Completely without chemistry, there was once a trade-off and therefore a well-considered choice on the part of the biological colleague. With a greater risk of declining harvests and therefore a reduced guarantee of food security. The services to make everything green are discounted in the higher selling price for the organic product. On the other hand, all sustainable efforts of the 'regular' farmer are for their own account and risk.

'Common and common' as an argument and explanation for what the largest group of Dutch farmers stand for, is unjustified. There is no large group of conventional farmers. Many new slogans have been added to interpret Dutch agriculture in the future: nature-inclusive, regenerative, sustainable, carbon, climate neutral, sustainable, future-proof, smart and high-tech. Just to name a few. I say: let go of all those terms. They try to catch what cannot be caught. Each farmer is a unique individual, farming on a unique piece of land in a unique area with unique characteristics. The shades in everything in between conventional and organic are great. In addition, multifunctional agriculture with its agricultural childcare, farm education, care farming, farm sales and landscape management is the big banner for our agriculture and horticulture among the bourgeoisie. All this diversity added together is just as relevant for a healthy agricultural economy as species richness is for a healthy ecology.

Eco activities
All farmers and their successive sons and daughters - I repeat: all farmers - are aware of major challenges such as caring for the environment, preserving biodiversity and combating climate change. The complex and sometimes impenetrable means regulation from politics, which has never set foot on the farm, must soon make way for regional goals and concrete KPIs. A number of successful target projects on the plot and in the barn, supervised by provinces, knowledge institutes and interest groups, have already shown that it works by working at the base through reward, trust, awareness, support and motivation.

Who can best maintain our landscape? That's right, the farmer. All farmers in all shapes and sizes. Labelless. In the new Common Agricultural Policy, this stewardship falls under eco-activities with associated eco-schemes with an associated eco-premium. Hopefully this system will function and the primary food producer in particular will receive what he/she is entitled to.

The implementation of the eco-goals is entirely completed by the unique farmer and his/her company in his/her specific region. Relying on the craftsmanship and specific knowledge of the area. After all, there are many roads that lead to beautiful Rome. This also applies to the search for the balance between local economy and local ecology. And all efforts must ultimately lead to that one major social goal: global food security. Now and in the future.

How? Not only by restoring nature, but also by appreciating farmers. Socially and in hard euros. To be able to continue farming, so that all world citizens are provided with their basic necessities. We really have to remember that it's all about healthy, nutritious food. Labelless.

Pascal Phillips

Pascal Philipsen is regional manager for the South of the Netherlands and fertilization specialist at Timac Agro Nederland.

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