The Farmers approach: Supporting farmers towards sustainable farming

The farmers approach

Life is a journey! It is our confidence in our mind and spirit that allows us to have new adventures, learn lessons and make true connections.

I was not born and raised on a farm, my life as a farmer began a little later when I married a dairy farmer. We moved in 2011 to the family farm together and we made plans for changing the dairy farm into a modern and sustainable business. My job was in the beginning an easy and probably a little traditional one; doing the books. With a background in Political Science and Economics I still had a job as a strategic advisor of one of the biggest cities in the Netherlands and was a local politician as well. Having a young family, working at the farm, a job and being a politician I struggled with all the things needed to be done – at the same time, with the same priority. It took me a couple of years to finally decide the amount of stress was not right for me and my family and in December 2017 decided to leave my job.. It was clear where my heart and future belongs; at the farm with my family and friends surrounded by people. Back in 2018, my husband Rick started as a Nuffield scholar. While he was away for his travels, I really thought about my role at the farm – who am I, what gives me energy, what is important to me? With my core values in mind I decided to start an educational farm besides the dairy. I see the importance of getting people to the farm and educate them about food production and all the hard work farmers are doing by making sustainable and healthy food. With my background in Political Science, I was really trying to understand agricultural policies and the way they affect the food production and day to day life on the farm. In the summer of 2019 I decided to apply for a Nuffield scholarship, never ever thought they would select me because I didn’t know much about global agriculture. But it happened, and I must say: this was the most exciting time of my life! It started with a pre-CSC (Contemporary Scholar Conference) with the Dutch scholars in London and the CSC at a tropical island at the east coast of Australia in March 2020. The week started as a dream – interesting programme, great people and a beautiful island. In that week, Covid hit the world and in just a couple of days everything changed. From closed borders to self-isolation. During the week, the Nuffield Board decided to cancel the CSC – when already half of the present scholars left early and returned home. It was clear that travelling in a pandemic wasn’t possible, so a lot of the remaining CSC program and the start of the Nuffield International visits were held online. It took until January 2022 for me to travel outside the Netherlands, all the way to Denmark. And to me, I never felt demotivated and decided to make the best of it. When I reflect it gave me the time needed for me to grow and develop my agriculture knowledge to decide the topic of my Nuffield study. I decided to focus onways to improve the relationship between government and farmers to enable working together and trust. I quickly felt overtaken by reality. Dutch farmers gathered for huge protests against new environmental regulations and continued their momentum to significantly impact the provincial elections. That all made me think I had to reconsider my topic.

The farmers approach
From January 2022 until March 2023 I was able to travel for 20 weeks. In these weeks I met the most amazing and inspiring people – from farmers to ambassadors, scientists and a wide variety of farms – from very small to very big- and beautiful places – from Belgium to Chile, from Washington DC to Italy, from Argentina to Canada to Spain. Being away and seeing so many things around the world made two important things clear to me:
1. Fewer and fewer people know where their food comes from or what happens before it ends on their plate. It strengthens my ideas about the important role our farm can have when it comes to communication, education, supporting and bringing people together. I feel it is really important we as farmers tell our story, what we do to produce food, how we do it in a sustainable way and why we make the choices we make. Nobody can tell our story better than ourselves, and if we don’t someone else will – but probably different as well. This motivated me to open up our farm to thousands of people each year for an open farm day and this is complimented by school class educational visits from the city. We are also successfully hosting business meetings for key organisations and policy makers where we provide a professional environment alongside an immersive farm tour experience..
2. Not only in the Netherlands, but also elsewhere in the world, there is a lot of attention for the way food is produced. Sustainable agriculture is or will be the norm, adapted to the country, culture, population and environment. In all the countries I've been to, all the visits I've made and all the conversations I've had, it became clear that change doesn't happen by itself. The changes are accompanied by many opportunities and challenges, entrepreneurial qualities, resilience and emotions. People in particular are sometimes forgotten in the changes because there is perhaps a bit too much focus on the outcome, e.g. environmental improvement.
It was a positive that I had more time for my Nuffield study due to Covid. Or as Winston Churchill would say; ‘Never let a good crisis go to waste’. Gradually I realised that my research should focus on farmers. This ultimately led to the question, how do we support farmers towards sustainable farming? My Nuffield study was definitely the great experience everybody is talking about, with its challenges, inspiration and opportunities that were given. I am humbled by the brilliant, innovative and resilient people I have met along the way and the kindness of strangers who have opened their homes and business for me. I am very grateful for all the new friends and networks that have been made. It was my pleasure being part of a fantastic Global Focus Program group as well. The weeks I went away, I had to leave home. This would not have been possible without the support from my family.