What explains – from a historical perspective – the innovation and yield per unit push in the Netherlands? That is the main question of IFAMA’s story line Dutch Agri. The first person to share his perspective is Niek Koning, Food Policy Analyst and emeritus assistant professor Wageningen University & Research. It is necessary to understand the long line of Dutch history to grasp the essence of Dutch agriculture as it exists today.
“Within Western Europe, together with Denmark and Britain, we were the most productive agricultural country.” Niek Koning sees two important causes for that position. The first one was agriculture technology. “Already in the high Middle Ages (around the 11th, 12th and 13th century) we had the development of the heavy horse drawn plough. With this heavy metal plough farmers in northern countries could till their fertile, but heavy soils. That allowed an increase in our population and the growth of cities.”
The second cause is the Netherlands’ unique location in a river delta by the sea. Koning: “The best located areas were the areas located near water. The Netherlands bordered at the North Sea, and it was situated in the delta of the Rhine and other major rivers. Before the Industrial Revolution, transport over water was about 10 times cheaper than over land. Water doesn't separate, but it connects areas.”
Thanks to the water, the Dutch were able to export milk, butter and cheese and import cereals. Our agriculture has been intertwined with trade since the Middle Ages. Koning: “We have always been in livestock. Compared to other European areas we were more specialized in livestock.” The Dutch could export a few percent of their production of for instance milk, butter and cheese, in the beginning to London, later to the industrial Ruhr Area in Germany. “With the money we earned we could buy cereals from the Baltic states.”
Close to London and Dutch cities
Throughout the centuries the Netherlands have always been densely populated country compared to France or Germany. The short distance of farmers to Dutch cities and of those cities to London stimulated them to intensify their output compared to inland Germany and France. The availability of transport led to low transport costs. Working in the neighbourhood allowed farmers to produce perishable products, which they could sell in the cities. Furthermore, “we had a lot of urban waste we could use as fertilizer or feed. Take the beer breweries, their residues could be used to feed animals”, says Koning.
Significant shift end 19th century
The industrial revolution has led to the transport revolution. “The dramatic change was, what our historians call the global agricultural crisis, in the closing decades of the 19th century.” It became possible to grow cereals in other parts of the world and ship it to Europe. “That caused a dramatical decline of the agricultural prices, which forced European countries to respond.”
According to Koning countries responded differently. The French and Germans protected their farmers and prices. “Otherwise they had no means anymore for investment.” Since the Dutch had a productivity advance, they could make a different decision and decided to organize a new productivity leap. “Government stepped in, came up with a whole network of agricultural schools, experiment stations, extension officers, etcetera, to increase the productivity advantage that we had.”
A new change
Since approximately the 1980’s that long historical line changed. Urban life has taken over the country, turning the rural countryside almost imperceptibly but surely into a kind of park between urban areas. Dutch farmers have difficulty noticing that they have changed into urban farmers. “Our farmers were amongst the most productive of the EU. They were protected by the borders of Europe.” What will change in the historical logic of the Dutch agriculture, for Dutch cities and the population will continue to expand? Half of the Dutch now live in urban areas. “We have no longer the advantage of producing around the cities. Most our farmers have changed into urban farmers.”
Moreover, farmers are faced with a lot of restrictions imposed by the urban policies, according to Koning. “The life of Dutch farmers has become less easy. Their competitive advantage is eroding. The traditional market policies are no longer in the interest of Dutch farmers." Koning believes that "innovation within the agri-industrial complex will continue, but no longer in the old way.” The Dutch farmers' share in the raw materials processors buy will drop. They'll buy them elsewhere and could move their plants.
The second cause is the Netherlands’ unique location in a river delta by the sea. Koning: “The best located areas were the areas located near water. The Netherlands bordered at the North Sea, and it was situated in the delta of the Rhine and other major rivers. Before the Industrial Revolution, transport over water was about 10 times cheaper than over land. Water doesn't separate, but it connects areas.”
Thanks to the water, the Dutch were able to export milk, butter and cheese and import cereals. Our agriculture has been intertwined with trade since the Middle Ages. Koning: “We have always been in livestock. Compared to other European areas we were more specialized in livestock.” The Dutch could export a few percent of their production of for instance milk, butter and cheese, in the beginning to London, later to the industrial Ruhr Area in Germany. “With the money we earned we could buy cereals from the Baltic states.”
Close to London and Dutch cities
Throughout the centuries the Netherlands have always been densely populated country compared to France or Germany. The short distance of farmers to Dutch cities and of those cities to London stimulated them to intensify their output compared to inland Germany and France. The availability of transport led to low transport costs. Working in the neighbourhood allowed farmers to produce perishable products, which they could sell in the cities. Furthermore, “we had a lot of urban waste we could use as fertilizer or feed. Take the beer breweries, their residues could be used to feed animals”, says Koning.
Significant shift end 19th century
The industrial revolution has led to the transport revolution. “The dramatic change was, what our historians call the global agricultural crisis, in the closing decades of the 19th century.” It became possible to grow cereals in other parts of the world and ship it to Europe. “That caused a dramatical decline of the agricultural prices, which forced European countries to respond.”
According to Koning countries responded differently. The French and Germans protected their farmers and prices. “Otherwise they had no means anymore for investment.” Since the Dutch had a productivity advance, they could make a different decision and decided to organize a new productivity leap. “Government stepped in, came up with a whole network of agricultural schools, experiment stations, extension officers, etcetera, to increase the productivity advantage that we had.”
A new change
Since approximately the 1980’s that long historical line changed. Urban life has taken over the country, turning the rural countryside almost imperceptibly but surely into a kind of park between urban areas. Dutch farmers have difficulty noticing that they have changed into urban farmers. “Our farmers were amongst the most productive of the EU. They were protected by the borders of Europe.” What will change in the historical logic of the Dutch agriculture, for Dutch cities and the population will continue to expand? Half of the Dutch now live in urban areas. “We have no longer the advantage of producing around the cities. Most our farmers have changed into urban farmers.”
Moreover, farmers are faced with a lot of restrictions imposed by the urban policies, according to Koning. “The life of Dutch farmers has become less easy. Their competitive advantage is eroding. The traditional market policies are no longer in the interest of Dutch farmers." Koning believes that "innovation within the agri-industrial complex will continue, but no longer in the old way.” The Dutch farmers' share in the raw materials processors buy will drop. They'll buy them elsewhere and could move their plants.
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Just listened to the interview while cooking. The unraveling of We will feed the world hasn't really come to pass in my opinion. I guess it will come to that in the future.
Two things are made clear:
1) For the bulk production of anonymous universal raw materials, the processing industry in the Netherlands does not necessarily need the Dutch farmer anymore. In fact, similar production takes place elsewhere, which is cheaper to buy, including transport to the factories in the Netherlands.
2) The manufacturing industry continues to innovate. This also applies to processing plants originally owned by farmers, e.g. cooperation Friesland Campina.
As the Netherlands is great and leading in making chocolate.*
However at 2 I like to ask the question looking to the future:
Production of finished product, of the final product will take place at the source, the production location. We want this (should we ) because of the impact of CO2 emissions by logistics.
Isn't this a pitfall for the Netherlands?
Isn't it better to build a cheese factory and/or dessert factory in Ireland than to bring that white (outdoor grazing) milk to the Netherlands/Germany?
#8 How do you look at this from the perspective I see/give?
*At least that is how it is presented / told. (Perhaps we are especially good at bulk production of acceptable quality for a competitive price¿?(Much chocolate should be called sugar given the first and largest ingredient on the ingredients list of chocolate in the Dutch supermarket)(Much chocolate should be called sugar given the first and largest ingredient on the ingredients list of chocolate in the Dutch supermarket)
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) > And than checked and changed by me with again help from deeple for synonyms for words and (part of) sentences
#6, Woody Maijers, primary potato production in Western Europe nowadays covers the Netherlands, Flanders and the North of France, as French fries processors like their plants to be next to the field.
What do you think: what is the potential for commodities production in the Netherlands? Why can't processors import potatoes?
I wonder if the NL is really loosing production (pre-COVID19) in french fries, but for sure we cannot accomodate further increases while demand is growing, we use our soils already too intensely. If agri-businnesses in e.g. feed, dairy or potatoes would move some production to other places (like flowers did to Africa) the competitive position of our sector is not based on farm production (quanttities) anymore, but on knowledge intensive activities as R&D, quality control, the headquarters, logistic management and hence the fiscal rules, the functioning of Schiphol airport, universities and an attractive landscape where knowledge workers and their partners want to live. That is an attractive upscaling in the value chain.
Some farming will stay attractive as 1.5 mln ha and more has to be managed, And if labour costs in society remains high, and interest levels relatively low compared to others (as has been the case in the last 400 years), this is an interesting place to develop new technologies (induced innovation).
In this sense comparisons with the coal mining industry or the textile industry are overstretched.
Interesting, Woody, your fries example. We're loosing production. This shouldn't be a problem. When we oversee the whole chain from knowledge, idea, design, technology, production technology, production, distribution, marketing, sales, to consumer feedback, a lot of high value work can be done. That's what's left. The good stuff can be staying. If we organize it and invest in it.
We already see this for french fries. A production shift to eastern Europe. Will the same happen as with the textile industry or Philips or Unilever production plants. They moved out of the Netherlands. What is left? Knowledge intensive agribusiness related activities?