The Netherlands is the world's second largest exporter of agricultural products, after the USA. Together with the USA and France, the Netherlands is one of the world's three leading producers of vegetables and fruit. It supplies a quarter of the vegetables that are exported from Europe. The agri-business is one of the driving forces behind the Dutch economy. At the same time, it poses challenges to the environment. In recent decades, farms became larger in scale and production became more intensive. As a result, fertilizers and manure made more impact on the countryside. Farming had to become more sustainable, the Dutch government said. Today, the Dutch agricultural sector is strongly focused on sustainability: it is a source of healthy, safe food that is produced with respect for the landscape and the environment.

The Dutch agricultural sector is diverse; it covers a wide range of livestock and plant-cultivation sectors that include, for example, arable and dairy farming, cultivation under glass, tree-growing and pig farming. |

Key aspects and strengths

• The Dutch agricultural sector benefits from Holland's mild climate, flat and fertile soil and favourable geographical location at the heart of Europe.
• Expertise, infrastructure, the food processing industry, commerce and logistics are all on an extremely high level in the Netherlands.
• For decades, Dutch agriculture has succeeded in maintaining its lead over international competitors by continually investing in the renewal of agricultural production chains.
• Farmers and growers are full partners in the agricultural production chain. Their primary task is to produce food, flowers and plants with an optimum price/quality radio using innovative, socially responsible and sustainable methods.
• Despite tight profit margins, agricultural businesses have invested substantially in environmental protection and implemented improvements in animal welfare

Facts & figures

• There are some 50,000 farmers, or agricultural entrepreneurs, in the Netherlands, distributed over various crop and animal sectors such as arable (crop) farming, dairy farming and pig farming.

• The agricultural sector makes up approximately 10 percent of the Dutch economy and provides work and income for more than 660,000 people.
• The sector has a strong international focus and accounts for almost 20 percent of the Netherlands' total export value.
• More than half of the Netherlands' total land surface of 4.15 million hectares is used as farmland. 56 percent if used for arable and horticultural crops, 42 percent is permanent grassland and 2 percent is used for permanent crops.
• There were 23,210 arable (crop) farm businesses in 2010.
• In 2010, there were more than 10,000 hectares of greenhouses in the Netherlands. Half of this, 5,000 hectares, was used for growing vegetables.
• Tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are the biggest greenhouse crops.
• The Netherlands exported 1 billion kilos of tomatoes in 2009.
• The most common arable crops are: potatoes (seed, starch and edible), winter corn, summer barley, sugar beets and onions.
• Production value of crop farming in 2010 was 2 billion euros. Potatos accounted for half of that sum.
• Of the one hundred most competitive products produced in the Netherlands, about half derive from the agriculture and food sector.
• The Netherlands exported 260 million kilos of cheese in 2009.

Source: Statistics Netherlands (CBS), Dutch Federation of Agricultural and Horticultural Organisations (LTO), Wageningen University and Research Centre (January 2011).

See also the Dutch government brochure 'The Dutch agri-cluster in a global context', Facts and Figures 2010: english.minlnv.nl

Websites

www.lto.nl - The Dutch Federation of Agriculture and Horticulture (LTO)

www.nzo.nl - The Dutch Dairy Association NZO

www.tno.nl - The Dutch Independent Research Organisation (TNO)

www.wur.nl- Wageningen University

english.minlnv.nl - Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation

www.nivaa.nl - Netherlands Potato Consultative Foundation

www.foodtechholland.nl - Public/private partnership with focus on the Indian market