In Dutch horticulture and agriculture, scaling up is still a common term and also an ambition expressed by many entrepreneurs. It would be a necessity given future-oriented business. In NRC, WUR former professor Jan Douwe van der Ploeg criticises that idea, for the entire agricultural sector in the Netherlands.
"We had an earning model. That was ongoing scaling-up, intensification, specialisation and market conquest. Viewed properly, that model is bankrupt, because Dutch agriculture and animal husbandry are running up against ecological, legal and financial limits. And yet the agricultural sector does not want to get rid of it at all. Instead, growers keep looking to the government: guarantee us a revenue model. Farmers, they were self-reliant entrepreneurs, right? Or are they employed by the government?"
The former professor is critical of the cabinet plans, which do not specify 'new earning models'. According to him, the cabinet is mainly committed to less regulation, relaxing environmental standards, technological solutions to pollution, no forced shrinkage of livestock.
Van der Ploeg argues for a return to the small growers of old in the newspapers and more diversity in agribusiness, i.e. not just bigger and bigger farms. "It quickly sounds nostalgic, but the fascinating thing is that the earning capacity of smaller, ecological farmers can exceed that of more industrialised agriculture. It does require more labour, but there are fewer investments and costs, and less money goes to suppliers, for fertilisers, for example. At first, yields are lower, but with knowledge and skill, incomes can become very decent."
Source: NRC (€)
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