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This Tiny Country Feeds the World

Exterminatus

Exterminatus

Tsukumogami User
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Article:
In a potato field near the Netherlands' border with Belgium, Dutch farmer Jacob van den Borne is seated in the cabin of an immense harvester before an instrument panel worthy of the starship Enterprise.

From his perch 10 feet above the ground, he's monitoring two drones—a driverless tractor roaming the fields and a quadcopter in the air—that provide detailed readings on soil chemistry, water content, nutrients, and growth, measuring the progress of every plant down to the individual potato. Van den Borne's production numbers testify to the power of this "precision farming," as it's known. The global average yield of potatoes per acre is about nine tons. Van den Borne's fields reliably produce more than 20.

That copious output is made all the more remarkable by the other side of the balance sheet: inputs. Almost two decades ago, the Dutch made a national commitment to sustainable agriculture under the rallying cry "Twice as much food using half as many resources." Since 2000, van den Borne and many of his fellow farmers have reduced dependence on water for key crops by as much as 90 percent. They've almost completely eliminated the use of chemical pesticides on plants in greenhouses, and since 2009 Dutch poultry and livestock producers have cut their use of antibiotics by as much as 60 percent.


There's also mention of poultry and cattle being raised in the area too so it's not just vegetables, fruits, and grains that benefit from this.
 
Exterminatus said:
Article:
In a potato field near the Netherlands' border with Belgium, Dutch farmer Jacob van den Borne is seated in the cabin of an immense harvester before an instrument panel worthy of the starship Enterprise.

From his perch 10 feet above the ground, he's monitoring two drones—a driverless tractor roaming the fields and a quadcopter in the air—that provide detailed readings on soil chemistry, water content, nutrients, and growth, measuring the progress of every plant down to the individual potato. Van den Borne's production numbers testify to the power of this "precision farming," as it's known. The global average yield of potatoes per acre is about nine tons. Van den Borne's fields reliably produce more than 20.

That copious output is made all the more remarkable by the other side of the balance sheet: inputs. Almost two decades ago, the Dutch made a national commitment to sustainable agriculture under the rallying cry "Twice as much food using half as many resources." Since 2000, van den Borne and many of his fellow farmers have reduced dependence on water for key crops by as much as 90 percent. They've almost completely eliminated the use of chemical pesticides on plants in greenhouses, and since 2009 Dutch poultry and livestock producers have cut their use of antibiotics by as much as 60 percent.


There's also mention of poultry and cattle being raised in the area too so it's not just vegetables, fruits, and grains that benefit from this.
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Well, not so much grains I believe. But yeah the Dutch are good at getting way more food from a bit of land than you'd expect.
 
Making a point of highlighting that potato yield is kind of confusing. "Over 20 tons per acre" also describes the US average.

That being said, the rest of it is really interesting. I knew that the dutch were big on agriculture but I didn't realize how heavily they were pushing greenhouses.
 
RRoan said:
Making a point of highlighting that potato yield is kind of confusing. "Over 20 tons per acre" also describes the US average.

That being said, the rest of it is really interesting. I knew that the dutch were big on agriculture but I didn't realize how heavily they were pushing greenhouses.
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What is their latitude? Good way to extend a growing season.
 
RRoan said:
Making a point of highlighting that potato yield is kind of confusing. "Over 20 tons per acre" also describes the US average.

That being said, the rest of it is really interesting. I knew that the dutch were big on agriculture but I didn't realize how heavily they were pushing greenhouses.
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Curious how much of this sort of expertise is going to be useful with climate change. My understanding is that greenhouses are hecka more water efficient.
 
Triggerhappy said:
Curious how much of this sort of expertise is going to be useful with climate change. My understanding is that greenhouses are hecka more water efficient.
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Yeah, not having the water evaporate and go AWOL would definitely help.

Greenhouses can be environmentally sealed preventing pests or disease from getting in (or out), which is a massive productivity saving, meaning you need less inputs for the same outputs.
 
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Triggerhappy said:
Curious how much of this sort of expertise is going to be useful with climate change. My understanding is that greenhouses are hecka more water efficient.
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Xon said:
Yeah, not having the water evaporate and go AWOL would definitely help.

Greenhouses can be environmentally sealed preventing pests or disease from getting in (or out), which is a massive productivity saving, meaning you need less inputs for the same outputs.
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Greenhouses are at least somewhat expensive though. There is a reason most crops around the world aren't grown in one. They might help production but I'd be hesitant to assume they can truly change the face of agriculture. At least not to the degree serious climate change might end up requiring.
 
FullNothingness said:
Greenhouses are at least somewhat expensive though. There is a reason most crops around the world aren't grown in one.
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But that's by current cost benefit analysis. Climate change could cause priorities to shift. Especially if there is a short term dearth of arable land or prolonged drought in established farming regions.
 
Triggerhappy said:
But that's by current cost benefit analysis. Climate change could cause priorities to shift. Especially if there is a short term dearth of arable land or prolonged drought in established farming regions.
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Sure, but a lot of the countries that will be hit hardest by global warming are also poor. Even if they could still produce food in greenhouses they would likely not be able to afford enough of them. Similarly for imported food from greenhouses, food made more expensively will be more expensive. It is probably not affordable for them.
 
FullNothingness said:
Sure, but a lot of the countries that will be hit hardest by global warming are also poor. Even if they could still produce food in greenhouses they would likely not be able to afford enough of them. Similarly for imported food from greenhouses, food made more expensively will be more expensive. It is probably not affordable for them.
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But is it actually more expensive? The capital and labour costs are higher, due to the need for infrastructure, trained personnel, etc, but the ability to cut down tremendously on water use, chemical inputs, and get more out of the same acreage of land, all of which contributes to reductions in operating costs+the price of the land itself.
 
Arcus said:
But is it actually more expensive? The capital and labour costs are higher, due to the need for infrastructure, trained personnel, etc, but the ability to cut down tremendously on water use, chemical inputs, and get more out of the same acreage of land, all of which contributes to reductions in operating costs+the price of the land itself.
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True, but thus far for most crops greenhouses have not been efficient. It is possible that in the future due to scarcity of land and resources this will start to shift... But that still only limits how much more expensive food can get rather than keep food cheap. It'll still be a giant problem for the poorer countries/people.
 
The greenhouses are a major component of the Dutch economy and some areas of the country really are dominated for them. For many kinds of produce, they provide massive advantages, if only because you can control environmental factors, allowing for all kinds of fruits and vegetables throughout the year. Furthermore, you can save a lot of labour by using machines. There also is a lot of work being done to reduce the energy cost, such as cooling with water in the summer and using that heat to keep things warm in the summer. You can also use the CO2 produced in the process of heating the greenhouse to make plants grow faster (a higher concentration eases photosynthesis). This however makes it a kind of high-tech agriculture that indeed is out of the reach of many countries.

One of the main costs (and problems for greenhouse farmers) is that energy costs have risen quite a lot, which has led to an increase in scale. These larger complexes make use of all sorts of technological solutions to keep costs down (such as closed greenhouses) and of course, try to reduce the amount of labour by as much as possible. It isn't efficient for all kinds of plants, but for things like tomatoes and paprikas it is profitable.
 
Xon said:
Greenhouses can be environmentally sealed preventing pests or disease from getting in (or out), which is a massive productivity saving, meaning you need less inputs for the same outputs.
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Not nearly enough to cover the cost of the millions of square miles of farmland that exist. It might be justifiable for some of the more valuable cash crops and spices, but not staple crops.

There is also the need to consider the environmental impact of physically blocking off that much land.
 
Greenhouses are environmental disasters.

Yes they're a efficient way to grow plants in our country's soggy climate, but they slurp electricity at a rate unparalleled by mortal men. Making a energy efficient greenhouse is one of the problems people are currently trying to solve to beat climate change in the Netherlands.
 
Gears said:
Greenhouses are environmental disasters.

Yes they're a efficient way to grow plants in our country's soggy climate, but they slurp electricity at a rate unparalleled by mortal men. Making a energy efficient greenhouse is one of the problems people are currently trying to solve to beat climate change in the Netherlands.
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I thought your strategy was to grow ever taller to beat the rising water levels?:V
 
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