Dutch Agricultural Sector Research Articles

Understanding inter-farm inequalities in extreme weather event impacts: Insights from the Dutch agricultural sector

As a result of global climate change, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and intense. Susceptibility to extreme weather events (EWEs) is high in the agricultural sector, as these extremes can cause a decline in yields and revenue for farmers. To provide insight into ways to reduce the impacts of EWEs, this study assessed which factors explain the differences in the impacts of past weather extremes between Dutch arable farms. A survey was conducted among potato and onion farmers in the Netherlands to collect information on the past impacts of EWEs between 2018 and 2022 and the vulnerability of farmers (N = 81). The survey results showed that EWEs have already had a strong effect on farm revenues, but the extent of the impacts varied among farms. By coupling the survey data to meteorological data on EWEs, it was found that dry summers, wet fields during harvest and plowing, and warm winters were the extremes that best explained the more detrimental impacts of extreme weather amongst respondents. Additionally, differences in the physical and social vulnerability of farmers played a significant role in the observed inter-farm inequalities in impacts. Farm practices that reduce physical vulnerability are frequently inaccessible to smaller-scale or younger farmers. Further research is needed to understand the access barriers faced by these farmers. Further, future research and policies targeting the Dutch agricultural sector should no longer ignore social vulnerability factors to avoid exacerbating inter-farm inequalities, as the impacts of EWEs increase due to climate change.

Aligning agri-environmental-climate public good supply and desire in a sustainable Dutch agricultural sector.

European agricultural policies increasingly incorporate mechanisms for delivery of public goods. Sustainable public good delivery requires alignment between societal demand and landscape supply. However, the variation of demands or desires regarding future public good delivery among society is hardly known. We inventoried the desires for public goods across Dutch society, and projections of agricultural supply. A multi-method approach was used to find agreement levels between desired and expected change in good delivery. Most stakeholders expressed a desire for biodiversity and climate regulation from agriculture, whilst desire for natural heritage and recreation was less common. The utility of a public good to a stakeholder appears to influence its desire. Scenarios for agriculture focus on extensification, sustainable intensification, regionalization, or meadow bird conservation. Regionalized scenarios showed the highest agreement between public good supply and desire. Maximizing alignment between desire and supply thus requires a challenging transition towards region-specific agricultural sustainability strategies.

Environmental Pressures and Value Added Related to Imports and Exports of the Dutch Agricultural Sector

This study shows the environmental impacts and economic performance due to agricultural trade through The Netherlands. Using the demand-driven input–output model and the database EXIOBASE (2011), we first analysed the environmental impacts and value added directly generated abroad by the agricultural sector through imported final consumption in The Netherlands; we then compared the environmental impacts and value added generated in The Netherlands by the agricultural sector due to exports to other countries. The results show that the Dutch consumption of imported agricultural products had significant greenhouse gas emissions of 19,386 kt CO2-eq, land use of 280,525 km2 and water consumption of 50,373 M.m3, while impacts in The Netherlands due to agricultural exports amounted, respectively, to 13,022 kt CO2-eq, 9282 km2 and 3339 M.m3. At the same time, we found that Dutch agricultural production had a higher value added to pressure ratio than abroad. These differences highlight the great dependency of Dutch final consumption on foreign natural resources, a significant trade imbalance for environmental impacts with relatively smaller economic benefits for countries exporting to The Netherlands. With these results, we suggest that it is of great importance that sustainability policies for the agricultural sector not only address environmental impacts domestically but also impacts and value creation abroad.

Aligning agricultural production and environmental regulation: An integrated assessment of the Netherlands

Abstract 1 1 The authors want to thank all persons that contributed to the scenario study perspectives of pathways of Dutch agriculture in 2050. The studies/activities on which this paper is based were financed through the Dutch ministry of agriculture, nature and food quality (project number BO-43–012.02.065), the KB project 1–2-A4 Models across scales of Wageningen University and Research (Topsector AgriFood KB 34–005–005) and the H2020 project SUPREMA (Grant Agreement No 773499). Climate change mitigation requires a transition towards a more sustainable system which eventually achieves circularity and climate-neutrality in all sectors, including agriculture. Despite the consensus about this ultimate goal, there is no unique way forward to achieve it. In this regard, usual questions that policy-makers face without having a clear answer relate to the potential deployment of new technology, the possibility of limiting certain economic activities, the externalities that will emanate from their interventions, etc. The aim of this study is to support the policy debate by exploring the potential impacts of several pathways that Dutch agriculture could follow for this transition. This paper presents a methodological approach on how to translate policy objectives into sustainability requirements using a linear programming (LP) model. This model which delivers insights on the optimal size of several agricultural activities has been used for facilitating stakeholder participation in scenario design. By using the Netherlands as a case study, an integrated assessment of several pathways that the Dutch agricultural sector could follow was carried out to contribute to the design of the future development strategy. The outcomes of the multidisciplinary assessment shows that it is feasible to meet long-term (2050) climate and environmental objectives for Dutch agriculture along different pathways. More specifically, limiting the size of the livestock sectors turned out to be necessary to achieve the intended emissions reductions. As a result the land use changed, with an increase in (agro-)forestry being unavoidable when strict climate neutrality would be required. • Dutch agriculture can meet long-term (2050) climate and environmental objectives. • Agricultural scenarios are assessed by combining economic and environmental models. • Limiting livestock numbers and afforestation are key to meet climate goals. • Reducing the size of the livestock sector lead to limited adjustments in prices. • The trade position of Dutch agriculture could change when pursuing climate goals.

Public-private partnerships as systemic agricultural innovation policy instruments – Assessing their contribution to innovation system function dynamics

This paper addresses the question how public-private partnerships function as systemic innovation policy instruments within agricultural innovation systems. Public-private partnerships are a popular government tool to promote innovations. However, the wide ranging nature of PPPs make it difficult to assess their effects beyond the direct impacts they generate for the partners. This paper broadens the discussion on the evaluation of PPPs beyond the organisational and financial benefits of the actors involved, and assesses their contribution to the functioning of the innovation system itself. In this paper, we utilise an innovation system perspective that focusses on how PPPs influence the dynamic interplay of innovation system functions and how these functions form a set of feedback loops that constitute an ‘innovation motor’. We compare the innovation history of four cases that differ in their strategic policy goals, either working on agricultural sustainability, or on the international competitiveness in the Dutch agricultural sector. The results show the strengths and weaknesses of different types of public-private partnerships as systemic instruments and their capability to orchestrate other types of innovation policy instruments.

Improving the Sustainability of Farming Practices through the Use of a Symbiotic Approach for Anaerobic Digestion and Digestate Processing

The dairy sector in the Netherlands aims for a 30% increase in efficiency and 30% carbon dioxide emission reduction compared to the reference year of 1990, and a 20% share of renewable energy, all by the year 2020. Anaerobic Digestion (AD) can play a substantial role in achieving these aims. However, results from this study indicate that the AD system is not fully optimized in combination with farming practices regarding sustainability. Therefore, the Industrial Symbiosis concept, combined with energy and environmental system analysis, Life Cycle Analysis and modeling is used to optimize a farm-scale AD system on four indicators of sustainability (i.e., energy efficiency, carbon footprint, environmental impacts and costs). Implemented in a theoretical case, where a cooperation of farms share biomass feedstocks, a symbiotic AD system can significantly lower external energy consumption by 72 to 92%, carbon footprint by 71 to 91%, environmental impacts by 68 to 89%, and yearly expenditures by 56 to 66% compared to a reference cooperation. The largest reductions and economic gains can be achieved when a surplus of manure is available for upgrading into organic fertilizer to replace fossil fertilizers. Applying the aforementioned symbiotic concept to the Dutch farming sector can help to achieve the stated goals indicated by the Dutch agricultural sector for the year 2020.

Applying the high performance organisation framework in the horticulture and greenhouse sector

PurposeThe Dutch agricultural sector nowadays experiences many challenges. To deal with these, the sector has been interested in finding ways to improve performance. Mostly, the improvement research has concentrated in the areas of innovation of products and quality, supply chain management, cooperatives, entrepreneurship and human resources. However, hardly any research has been done into ways to strengthen the internal organisation, encompassing the quality of management, employees and processes and systems of the agriculture company. This paper aims to address this research gap by evaluating whether the high performance organisation (HPO) framework, a scientific validated analysis and improvement technique, can be used to help agricultural enterprises to strengthen their internal organisation.Design/methodology/approachThe HPO Questionnaire was applied at four Dutch horticulture companies to evaluate their performance. Subsequently, at each company, interviews were held to obtain more information about the scores. Then, a workshop was organised with the management of all four companies to discuss the study results.FindingsThe workshop showed that the framework was suitable for the participating companies to start improving their organisations, as management of all four companies agreed that the analysis and recommendations, derived from analysing the questionnaire data and the interviews, were highly relevant to their business.Originality/valueAs there is no holistic organisational evaluation and improvement technique which looks specifically at the internal organisation of horticulture companies, available for the agricultural sector, the application of the HPO Framework in this sector is the first of its kind.

The Role of Farm Management Characteristics in Understanding the Spatial Distribution of Landscape Elements: A Case Study in the Netherlands

In Western Europe the fate of biodiversity is intimately linked to agricultural land use. A driving force behind biodiversity decline is the gradual conversion of Europe’s traditional integrated rural landscapes of nature and agriculture into monofunctional units of production. With these developments, semi-natural landscape elements have increasingly disappeared from agricultural landscapes. A growing body of research, however, underlines the importance of semi-natural habitats in agricultural landscapes for biodiversity conservation, habitat connectivity, and ecosystem services. On the local scale, considerable variation between the relative area of landscape elements on individual farms can be observed. Farm management decisions are presumed to be important determinants for the composition of agricultural landscapes and the services provided to society. By bringing together data from farmer interviews and aerial photographic imagery, this paper analyzes the predictive validity of farm management characteristics to understand the distribution of landscape elements on farmland parcels. The farm management parameters included in the study are relevant to current dominant trends in the Dutch agricultural sector; intensification, scale enlargement, diversification, and gradual termination of farming activities. Scale enlargement and migratory processes are found to be important predictors. The results of the Dutch case study provide insights in the threats and opportunities for the conservation of semi-natural habitat in agricultural landscapes. The findings present an empirical contribution to the debate on sustainable management of agriculture’s green infrastructure and, in broader perspective, the objective to reconcile agricultural production with the urging need of biodiversity conservation in Europe’s spatially contested countryside.

Enhancing the Reflexivity of System Innovation Projects With System Analyses

Networks aiming for fundamental changes bring together a variety of actors who are part and parcel of a problematic context. These system innovation projects need to be accompanied by a monitoring and evaluation approach that supports and maintains reflexivity to be able to deal with uncertainties and conflicts while challenging current practices and related institutions. This article reports on experiences with reflexive process monitoring (RPM)—an approach that has been applied in several networks in the Dutch agricultural sector, which strive for sustainable development. Particular attention is paid to conducting system analyses—a core element of the methodology. The first results show that system analyses indeed have the potential to enhance reflexivity if carried out collectively. However, regular patterns of thinking and acting within projects interfere in subtle ways with the new knowledge generated and limit the transformation of the reflexive feedback and insights into action.

Triggering transitions towards sustainable development of the Dutch agricultural sector: TransForum’s approach

TransForum is an innovation program which aims to make a substantial contribution to the transition towards more sustainable development of the Dutch agricultural sector. This article describes the scientific foundation and architecture of this program. TransForum operates on the basis of five working hypotheses which together constitute one integrated analytical framework. These hypotheses are: (1) sustainable development is a dynamic system property; (2) sustainable development needs system innovation; (3) system innovation is a non-linear learning process; (4) system innovation requires active participation of relevant key players from knowledge institutes, governmental bodies, civil society organisations and the business community; (5) the program requires transdisciplinary collaboration of all players. TransForum identifies three new innovation strategies: (1) vital clusters; (2) regional development; (3) international agro-food networks; as alternatives to the current arrangements. Innovative projects are organised in these innovation strategies. The aim of the scientific program is threefold: (1) it addresses research questions raised in the innovative projects; (2) it investigates the need for system-innovations and the way in which they can be realized; (3) it designs research projects to test the five main working hypotheses of the program. The scientific program is organised in four themes following a cyclic innovation process which is constantly monitored. The cycle starts with people’s preferences and images, followed by studies on which inventions are required to achieve a successful innovation. Subsequently, it is investigated how to organize new innovations and transitions and finally, how citizen/consumers behaviour and preferences mobilizes sustainable development, closing the loop.

Establishment and embedding of innovation brokers at different innovation system levels: Insights from the Dutch agricultural sector

In the systems perspective on innovation, co-operation between several different types of actors is seen as key to successful innovation. Due to the existence of several gaps that hinder such effective co-operation, the scientific and policy literature persistently points at the need for intermediary organizations to fulfill bridging and brokerage roles. This paper aims to provide an overview of the insights from the literature on such ‘innovation brokers’, and to contribute to the literature by distilling lines of enquiry and providing insights on one of the lines identified. Taking as an empirical basis experiences with different types of innovation brokers that have emerged in the Dutch agricultural sector, it identifies a number of tensions with regard to the establishment and embedding of such organizations. The paper indicates that, despite being perceived to have a catalyzing effect on innovation, innovation brokers have difficulty in becoming embedded as their clients and/or financiers find it difficult to grasp the nature and value of their activities.

Developing futures for agriculture in the Netherlands: a systematic exploration of the strategic value of foresight

AbstractScience and Technology Foresight (STF) is an interactive and systematic exploration of future dynamics of science, technology, the economy and society with the aim of identifying and supporting viable strategies and actions for stakeholders. In comparison to futures studies and forecasting, the literature on foresight has paid little attention to its actual strategic value. In this paper we review the 1995–1999 foresight programme of the Dutch National Council for Agricultural Research, and evaluate some key dimensions of the foresight process, including the selection and range of participants, the immediate impact of interactive tools such as workshops and the ultimate effect on the strategic thinking in the agricultural sector. The evaluation indicates that strategic thinking in the Dutch agricultural sector has improved. The paper concludes with suggestions for monitoring and evaluation of foresight that may increase the understanding of foresight's strategic value. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Evaluation of risks of metal flows and accumulation in economy and environment

The contrast between, on the one hand, decreasing emissions of the metals cadmium, copper, lead and zinc and, on the other, their continuously increasing input into the economy is analysed for three case studies: The Netherlands as a whole, the Dutch housing sector and the Dutch agricultural sector. Flows of these metals through and their accumulation within the economy and the environment have been quantified for 1990 and for a constructed steady-state situation. To this end, the substance flow analysis method has been applied. The case studies show that there is a strong increase to be expected in the emissions from the 1990 to the steady-state situation. This increase is mainly due to the shift from landfill accumulation to emission to non-agricultural soil. At the same time, however, there is also an increase in the emissions to other media: air, water and agricultural soil. Emissions along these critical routes with respect to human and ecotoxicity show an approximately 30% increase for cadmium, lead and zinc and more than a doubling for copper. It is shown that this increase may lead to the surpassing of critical levels for human toxicity and terrestrial and aquatic ecotoxicity. Some possible measures are suggested to prevent critical levels being exceeded.

Industrialization and Poverty in Ireland and the Netherlands

ing for the moment from large internal variations within each, were in the level of development of the agricultural sector and the survival of certain remnants of the golden age in the Netherlands, which had no counterpart in Ireland. Dutch agricultural sector was severely hit by the potato famine, and although the rural and urban poor, who depended on potatoes, could obtain little help from the modern sector, the bulk of the agricultural sector was sufficiently wealthy to allow the economy to recover rapidly and in the i85os to start a slow but ultimately successful ascent toward industrial prosperity. As noted, the Dutch economy could still count on a colonial empire, a maritime sector, and a substantial class of rentiers-all in one way or another a heritage of a glorious past. None of these relics introduced much of a dynamic element into the Dutch economy. famine in the late I84os in the Netherlands was therefore 41 Scottish relief aid was organized by Sir Edward Pine Coffin who, despite his name, prevented mass starvation. Malcolm Gray, The Highland Potato Famine of the I840's, Economic History Review, VII (I955), 366. Other factors not directly attributable to the level of economic development were also at work in Scotland, such as landlord attitudes toward tenants, which were very different than in Ireland. Flinn, Scottish Population History,