The agriculture sector accounts for 10% of the Dutch economy and employment and it the agriculture sectors exports 17,5% of the Dutch total export (Government of the Netherlands 2020), so it is an essential sector in our country. However, this sector is one of the most significant influencers to global warming and climate change. Global warming is an important issue to address because it has consequences such as increasing temperature levels, growing season lengths, and rising sea levels (GlobalChange, 2014). Studies show that the agriculture sectors emit 25% of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions but the agriculture sector suffers also the most from the effects of climate changes. Is there a solution for the agriculture sector to break this negative spiral?
Emerging technologies in the agriculture sector are Climate-smart agriculture technologies. This concept within the agriculture sector is increasing in importance because it can break the negative spiral of the agriculture sector affecting the climate and the agriculture sector being impacted by the bad climate conditions. Innovation is characterised as CSA when it (1) enhances the productivity, (2) make it possible for farmers to adapt to climate change, and (3) have an aim to reduce emissions (Long et al., 2016). It is important to enhance the productivity of farmers because the food demand is expected to grow with 40%, without even accounting for an increase in the global calorie intake (Verschuuren, 2016).
The agriculture sector is facing is not the lack of sustainable innovations in the sector. There exists a lack of success in sustainable innovations. Thus, in the agriculture sector, there is a slow diffusion rate of sustainable agriculture technologies which creates a too slow pace to solve the challenges of climate change (Fichter & Clausen, 2016).
GlobalChange. (2014). National Climate Assessment. Global Change.
Long, T. B., Blok, V., & Coninx, I. (2016). Barriers to the adoption and diffusion of technological innovations for climate-smart agriculture in Europe: Evidence from the Netherlands, France, Switzerland and Italy. Journal of Cleaner Production, 112, 9–21.
Verschuuren, J. (2016). The Paris Agreement on Climate Change: Agriculture and food security. European Journal of Risk Regulation, 7(1), 54–57. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1867299X00005389
Hi Laura,
You wrote an interesting post. Super relevant as well, with the recent farmer protests due to Dutch government regulations, which were implemented to stimulate the decrease of aggricultural emissions. Interestingly enough, as tiny as the Netherlands is, it is the world’s second largest producer and exporter of food. There is no other country in the world capable of getting more return from a square meter of aggricultural land than the Dutch. So if anyone, the Dutch aggricultural sector should be on the frontline of becoming more sustainable.
Research done at the Wageningen university is contributing to this. The university, famous all over the world, attracts some of the brightest minds in the field of aggricultural innovation to solve the sustainable challenges. A solution I’m really interested in, is vertical farming (with regards to vegetables). Currently most farm land is horizontal: literally a of land where farmers can grow crops or have life stock. What if that same surface is multiplied vertically. One could imagine how much more yield could be gained, from the same amount of surface. Vertical hydratation based on sensors could then further reduce water and feeding waste, making the production process more efficient.
This emerging technology is still too expensive to widely implement. However, research scientists are working hard on developing this technique, as they expect great future potential in making the sector more efficient and more sustainable.
Hi Laura,
Thank you for raising this important topic and interesting blog!
I too believe that it is necessary to make a significant change in how agriculture in large parts of the world is being implemented. There are many kinds of research done on how bad farming can lead to soil degradation, erosion, and even biodiversity.
However, I am positive that it is still possible to feed the growing demand. An example is Dutch agriculture. The Netherlands is the second-largest exporter in the world, just after the United States. This is all due to decades of innovation by the Netherlands. There are all types of innovations that increase productivity and decrease waste. For example, the University of Wageningen has started experimenting with different soils, Rotterdam has started to create a floating farm, and the Dutch company Nijsen has transformed food residue into livestock feeding. Reading this, I do slightly optimistic that we can meet the rising demands associated with the growing population in the coming years.
However, I agree with you that we need more Climate-smart technologies are to go against the degradation of our land. On the positive side, many governments have realized this and started to create policies that stimulate smart-agriculture. The British Government has invested 20 million dollars for sustainable agriculture and provides incentives for private aggrotech firms to invest in smart technology.
Hopefully, many other governments realize the potential of smart-agriculture and many of its implications. There is a possibility that companies can convince governments through the increased productivity that smart-agriculture can bring and hopefully start investing in this technology