When I arrived in Groningen in mid 2020, a group of farmer advisors, knowledge brokers and farmers from the North of The Netherlands contacted me, in my quality of ‘newly arrived’ professor of Agroecology at Groningen University. We soon started brainstorming around establishing a collaborative research/ communication st ratty to foster agroecology, regenerative and nature inclusive agriculture in the North of The Netherlands. The AReNA Innovation Platform was born. Here is where we are now, two years down the road.
Agriculture in the north of The Netherlands
Current agriculture in The Netherlands contributes to high energy consumption per unit of food energy produced, soil degradation and large GHG emissions, phosphorous accumulation and nitrogen leaching, a large water footprint, excessive pesticide use and pesticide lock-ins, loss of biodiversity, deterioration of landscapes, and the production of food with reduced nutritional value (impacting health). The Netherlands ranks first in Europe in terms of nitrogen surplus in agriculture (hence in soil, water and air pollution with N) and 20th in the list of 27 EU countries in terms of biodiversity conservation status (cf. European Environmental Agency). Moreover, the financial outlook for many farmers is grim, while social appreciation of farmers has declined. This resulted in a constant reduction in the number of active famers in The Netherlands from 97,390 in 2000 to 52,700 in 2020 (from 16,240 to 9,490 in the north of the country), and an average age of the farmer that is reaching 60 years old, as they struggle to find a successor (CBS Agricultural Census). A transition to more sustainable farming systems is urgently needed.
Agriculture in the north of The Netherlands is no exception to the national trends described above. High dependence on external inputs and financial subsidies, environmental pollution, and the aggravating consequences of high land and labour prices and elevated degrees of financial indebtedness. Yet the northern region of The Netherlands, comprising the provinces of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe, has a great potential for agricultural production thanks to its favourable environment in terms of soils and climate, and to the know-how of a highly professionalised agricultural sector. The region hosts also a large and vibrant food industry, and centres of knowledge and excellence. The diversity of soils and environments in the North means that a large diversity of agricultural activities can take place, with high levels of efficiency, with the potential to create a solid base for a more local and circular agricultural sector.
These regional features represent also a complexity of ecosystems and habitats with the potential to host a wide range of biodiversity at different scales on the landscape, if properly managed, and a diversity of livelihoods and food traditions that represent an important cultural heritage. Agricultural activities in the past have shaped the productive landscape resulting in favourable habitats for wild species, some of them emblematic for the region such as meadow of farmland birds. Yet, biodiversity has been declining in the North over the last four decades, chiefly as a consequence of agricultural intensification (e.g. Kentie et al., 2016). Additionally, the N crisis that affects The Netherlands nowadays is also played out in the North, no less because the region receives the excess N ‘exported’ from other regions of the country.
Innovate and redesign
A redesign of the agricultural systems and resulting landscapes is urgently needed in the north of The Netherlands, a region that has the potential to become an example and lead the way towards sustainable food production, playing a key role at national and international levels. Agroecology has the potential to provide the knowledge and inspiration needed for such a redesign (Tittonell, 2014). This has been the reason for the creation of the AReNA innovation platform.
The AReNA (Agroecology, Regenerative and Nature-driven Agriculture) innovation platform aims to develop the necessary agroecological knowledge on, and promote the acceptance of, sustainable, regenerative and resilient food systems for people and nature in the north of The Netherlands. The platform brings together the rural community represented by farmers and other rural actors, the research and technology sector, and the knowledge brokering and agricultural advisory sector to establish a horizontal dialogue about the major challenges facing the regional food system, as well as to propitiate the co-creation of knowledge and innovations to address such challenges.
The platform is open for other relevant regional and national stakeholders to gradually join, such as government representatives, value chain actors, NGOs, etc. A relatively large number of farmers in the north of The Netherlands are or showed interest in participating in the AReNA platform, for example by co-signing research proposals submitted for funding, engaging themselves to contribute their time and resources (private counterpart).
Outcomes
The major outcomes that are expected from this platform are (i) the development of the evidence base in the realm of agroecology to contribute to the design and adoption of proven management practices and technologies for regenerative, nature-driven and resilient farming and its multiple benefits, and (ii) significant contributions to the public debate to create awareness and catalyze a paradigm shift towards productive, sustainable and resilient agricultural landscapes for people, food and nature.
Aside from the high-level contribution to the scientific and public debates, this platform:
- Develops research proposals together with all stakeholders to further the knowledge on agroecology and its environmental, social and economic benefits;
- Contributes to capacity development and training, especially through field days, seminars and short courses for farmers, researchers, students and general public;
- Publishes scientific peer-reviewed papers and technical notes for practice with the insights gained from research and shared learning;
- Contributes to scientific, political and societal debates through participation and keynote speeches at workshops, scientific events and conferences;
- Involves students and the academia (universities, professional schools) in research projects where they interact with the other stakeholders in the platform;
Challenges
An implicit task for the platform is to raise funds to finance its minimum structure and functioning, as well as to support research activities in farmers’ fields and/or at research centres. This has been a challenge so far. In the last two years, we developed and submitted two major research proposals to the NWO, the Dutch Agency for Scientific Research. Both proposals included collaborators from a wide diversity of organisations and academic institutions (Universities of Utrecht and Wageningen, Van Hall Larenstein, University Medical Centrum Groningen, Consultancy companies, Input suppliers, etc.) and more than 100 farmers. The first one was about the platform as a mission-innovation system and the second was about the link between the microbiomes in soil, plants, and eaters, as influenced by regenerative practices.
Both proposals made it to the end round (top 3). They were very well evaluated by external, independent reviewers, with glowing comments from them. However, when it came to defending the proposals in front of a final evaluation committee appointed by the NWO, we crashed against a wall. Although the NWO call for proposals emphasised that they will only fund research with applicable results, with private sector commitment, etc., etc., the final evaluation of our proposals was made by scientists, not by practitioners, policy makers or people with experience in transdisciplinary approaches. And scientists, as we know, they only look at potential publications coming out of a research project. They judged that our proposals, engaging farmers and real life challenges through a co-innovation approach, would not guarantee sufficient ‘scientific output’, of the type they like to see. Which shows that the NWO is not yet prepared to fund transdisciplinary science, despite their claims.
We will continue to insist. Try other sources fo funding. We are already financing small activities with farmers from ‘our own pockets’. We believe in co-creating knowledge with farmers. We see it aster only way forward to support a transition to more sustainable farming in the north of The Netherlands.
References
Kentie, R., Senner, N.R., Hooijmeijer, J.C.E.W., Márquez-Ferrando, R., Figuerola, J., Masero, J.A., Verhoeven, M.A., Piersma, T., 2016. Estimating the Size of the Dutch Breeding Population of Continental Black-Tailed Godwits from 2007–2015 Using Resighting Data from Spring Staging Sites. Ardea 104, 213–225. https://doi.org/10.5253/arde.v104i3.a7
Tittonell, 2014. Ecological intensification – sustainable by nature. Current Opinion on Environmental Sustainability 8, 53–61.