Agricultural vision: opportunities, ifs and buts

Minister Carola Schouten (Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality) announced her vision for the future on 8 September, giving farmers a dot on the horizon. "There is still a lack of concrete implementation", according to the response of various sector parties.

Hans Huijbers, the chairman of ZLTO, agrees with the agricultural vision, although he is mainly curious about what the 'do agenda' will look like. Huijbers thinks it is positive that the government is pushing for a better revenue model, but also sees plenty of challenges. "The vision calls for an active government. Given the ambitions, the government cannot sit as a spectator."

Known Themes
Ruud Tijssens, director of Public & Cooperative Affairs at Agrifirm, says that the content of the vision did not surprise him. "We have been working on themes such as circular agriculture, nature-inclusive and sustainable soil management for some time. It is good that the government has expressed a direction so that the Dutch agricultural sector can move towards it."

According to Tijssens, it comes down to the implementation of the vision. "The question is: how is a farmer going to manage this, and who will take control?" Tijssens does think that there are no concrete dots on the horizon yet. "The how-question has not yet been answered." Tijssens mentions circular fertilizers as an example. "There will have to be a definition. When that subsequently becomes a purchasing condition in the chain, the market will do its job." According to Tijssens, the emergence of green electricity is a good example of a comparable development. 

Provided and buts
The revenue model must enable the farmer to take concrete steps. If the proceeds or the balance are at stake, it is not always easy. "The agricultural vision focuses on production in the Netherlands, but we also produce for the world market. Valuing value in an international context will still be a challenge." Especially for the sectors that have organized their sales worldwide. Suppliers may also be affected.

Tijssens believes that livestock farming can take substantial steps in terms of circularity. Not only in the Netherlands, but also elsewhere in Europe. The sector now processes 3 million tons of food waste every year, but this volume can be doubled in the coming years, according to Tijssens. "The Netherlands can be the forerunner in this."

Preventing food waste 
Ingrid Jansen, chairman of the Producers' Organization for Pig Farming (POV), believes that circular agriculture should be seen in the light of a circular economy. "Pigs are pre-eminently animals for giving residual flows from the potato, grain and food industry a useful destination." 

According to Jansen, this is already happening and may be even more so in the future. Pig farming can also play a concrete role in, for example, combating food waste. "However, this still requires an amendment to the legislation."

Chance for animal manure 
In the vision, Schouten expresses his desire to reduce the use of fertilizer. Jansen says that this offers leads for lower manure disposal costs. "If the cattle farmers are given more room to use animal manure on their farms, there will be less crowding out on the manure market. The pig farming industry can only be happy with that," says Jansen.

Wouter Job

Wouter Baan is Head of Meat & Dairy at BoerenbusinessAt DCA Market Intelligence, he focuses on dairy, pork, and meat markets. He also monitors (business) developments within agribusiness and interviews CEOs and policymakers.

w.baan@boerenbusiness. Nl

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