The Netherlands—a rustic smaller than the state of West Virginia—is the world’s second-largest agricultural exporter by worth. That productiveness, nevertheless, has include environmental and social prices, in line with researchers at Wageningen College & Analysis (WUR). The present financial system prioritizes effectivity and progress over ecological and human well-being.
“This effectivity, this deal with extra, has come at an expense of animal welfare and human welfare,” Evelien De Olde, Researcher on the Animal Manufacturing System Group, says within the Meals 2050 movie, which premieres January 2026 in partnership with Media RED, the Rockefeller Basis, and Meals Tank.
Along with Dr. Imke de Boer, Professor of Livestock and Sustainable Meals Techniques at WUR, De Olde wrote Re-rooting the Dutch Meals System, a blueprint for remodeling Dutch agriculture by redesigning how meals is produced, consumed, and valued. They had been named named a Top Food System Visionary in 2020 by the Rockefeller Basis. Their imaginative and prescient requires a basic shift towards round meals programs that work with pure processes moderately than towards them.
“A round system to feed the soil, respecting the lifetime of the animals, and creating extra acutely aware shoppers. This mix of components makes extra sustainable meals programs,” says De Olde.
One key change entails how land is used. Within the Netherlands and globally, about 40 % of arable land is used to develop feed for livestock as a substitute of meals for individuals. De Boer says that that is an inefficient use of land and vitamins that round meals programs will help appropriate.
“Once you produce plant-sourced meals for our consumption, you additionally routinely produce all types of co-products which you could feed on to the animals. You wish to flow into vitamins into the system,” says De Boer.
Defending soil life can also be essential to circulating vitamins. De Boer says a more healthy, extra sustainable meals system makes use of intercropping, or planting a number of varieties of crops in a single discipline to cut back the dangers of pests and ailments, and avoids the usage of pesticides.
Cornelis Mosselman is testing nature-based programs that emphasize biodiversity and soil well being at Bi-Jovira Farm in South Holland. He says the outcomes are fascinating.
“Vegetation, roots, and the organisms within the soil work together. And collectively they’re forming a robust stimulus for the soil and pure processes. And that results in sure balances that make sure that excesses and plagues are manageable,” says Mosselman.
For De Olde and De Boer, animal welfare is equally essential to constructing really sustainable meals programs.
“We repeatedly study extra concerning the emotional intelligence of animals and the significance of giving area to their pure habits,” says De Olde. For instance, grazing cows guarantee grass doesn’t develop too excessive, so rivers can go into the floodplains when wanted. This retains the cities secure whereas producing nutritious, regionally sourced dairy and meat.
Re-rooting the meals system additionally means reconnecting shoppers with the origins of their meals.
“The largest downside with our meals system presently is that it’s turn out to be so globalized that folks have misplaced the connection of the place their meals comes from,” says Fabian, a farmer at Herenboeren. Fabian’s farm brings collectively about 200 households who collaborate to plan which crops are grown, permitting them to actively take part within the manufacturing of their very own meals and “create a type of ‘pro-sumer.’”
That connection helps shift mindsets, says De Olde: “It permits individuals to enter the farm, find out about how meals is produced, and thereby additionally create extra acutely aware shoppers…individuals should study to respect meals, because it takes loads of power and energy to supply it. And this can be a mindset that we have to study once more.”
Since being named a Meals Techniques Visionary, De Boer has seen a rising motion of individuals eager about strengthening that connection. She says that speaking success tales—not simply specializing in what’s damaged—has engaged extra individuals on this work, particularly younger individuals.
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