The tiny country that feeds the whole planet

Dutch agrarian phenomenon

The Netherlands earns almost 100 billion euros a year from agriculture.

The Netherlands is a small and densely populated country. Its population density is 496 people per square kilometer. For a long time it lacked the resources for large-scale agriculture, and now it ranks second among world food suppliers. How has it managed to do this?

When looking from a high altitude Holland does not look like a country with mass agricultural production: numerous shreds of densely planted fields, each of them quite small by modern standards. It is difficult to find a potato field, a greenhouse or a pigsty in the main agrarian regions of the country, where there would be no skyscraper, factory or other urban development. At the same time, more than half of the land in the country is occupied by agriculture and crop production.

Necklaces made of seemingly giant mirrors, shining in the midday sun, and at night flashing and completely unearthly glow, spread out Dutch greenhouse complexes. The area of some of them reaches 70 hectares. It is thanks to these extraordinary greenhouses that maintain a constant internal microclimate, the country, located 1600 kilometers from the Arctic Circle, has become a world leader in the export of such heat-loving plants as tomatoes.

In addition to them, the Dutch hold the first place in the world in terms of export of potatoes and onions, as well as take second place in the supply of vegetables in general. More than a third of world deals on the market of vegetable seeds are also made in Holland.

The Netherlands is a world leader in the introduction of innovative technologies in agriculture and animal husbandry.

Since 2000, Dutch farmers have managed to almost completely abandon the use of pesticides, and since 2009 to reduce the use of antibiotics in poultry and livestock by 60% .Currently, the Netherlands is the second largest exporter of food products, second only to the United States, a country whose size exceeds the Netherlands by 270 times.

Greenhouses equipped with climate control allow harvesting all year round.

With the growing demand for chicken, Dutch manufacturers have developed and implemented technologies that allow to maximize poultry production, maintaining a humane attitude towards animals.

As a result of accurate determination of the necessary amount of water and nutrients potato farms get twice as much yield.

Only rain water is used for irrigation. To water an ordinary open field, it takes about 60 liters of water, this amount is reduced to 15 on the farm. Every year all tomatoes are re-grown from seed, and the old haulm is sent for processing - they are then made into crates for the harvest. For pest control, the farm uses natural means - a whole army of ticks that do not eat tomatoes, but destroy pests.

The Netherlands is famous for the seeds they produce. In 2016, the country sold them for about $1.7 billion. However, it does not supply the market with seeds of genetically modified products.

Farms in the Netherlands offer even vegetable seeds, which know how to protect themselves against major pests. And one $0.50 worth of tomato seeds from a high-tech greenhouse can bring a 68 kilogram harvest.

Dutch researchers strive to provide products not only to their homeland, but also to developing countries.

This small country exported 90 billion euros worth of agricultural products last year. But for the Dutch it is important not only quantity but also quality, so they have developed a new concept of agricultural sector development.

For Holland, the agricultural sector is primarily an area of high technology. According to Dutchreview, research and development costs in Dutch agricultural companies with more than 10 employees grew by 19% in 2018. - to 864 million euros. For other sectors of the Dutch industry, the average investment growth rate was 11%.

A year earlier, ahead of the USA and Great Britain, at the end of 2017. The Netherlands moved up one more position in the Global Innovation Index (GII), ahead of Sweden and coming second after Switzerland. So if anyone succeeds in creating an agriculture of the future, it will surely be the Dutch.

If in 1999, Holland used more fertiliser than any other European country (on average, 500 kg per hectare), by 2014 that figure had been more than halved, and greenhouse fertilisers were hardly ever used at all.