Opportunities for farmers and nature

From a very young age I have been involved in our family business. In 2014, together with my wife and with support of our families we opened a second city farm. Our families have connected city life with country life since 1982. Recently farmers have found themselves in the middle of political debates, and a changing political landscape. To me it feels like society is looking at farmers from a different perspective. The right to exist and the need to produce food in the Netherlands is strongly questioned. The Netherlands is a relatively small country, with high intensity agriculture, serving many different purposes.
We have been farming organically for many years already and several years ago I completed a course in circular agriculture. I strongly feel the need to progress and to take our farm, small scale, organic and entirely focussed on local produce even further. We have the aim to show more farmers, nature organisations and governments the possibilities of combining nature and agriculture, where they complement and strengthen each other and where nature and production go hand in hand. The world demands that we keep challenging ourselves, which is what I have tried to achieve during this Nuffield trip.