A green wind blows over Wageningen University

REPORTAGE LANDBOUWKUNDE

A green wind blows over Wageningen University

Large-scale industrial agriculture has been pretty much invented at Wageningen University. Lately, there seems to be a shift in what counts as the best agricultural university in the world. 'The realisation is growing that we cannot continue to scale up and step up agriculture.'

Mac by DintherMay 15, 2020, 3:00 p.m.

https://www.volkskrant.nl/wetenschap/er-waait-een-groene-wind-over-wageningen-universiteit~b8d2c539/

At the beginning of this year, a group of scientists from Wageningen University & Research (WUR) presented a map of the Netherlands in 2120. The future as they reflect looks green: natural dune rows keep the rising seawater at bay, seaweed and wind farms at sea provide food and energy, broad rivers drain the excess rainwater.

Perhaps even more remarkable than what is on the map (food forests, circular farming, green cities), is what is missing from it: no pig flats or mega stables, to name but a few. No agro-industrial parks either. This is special, because many people associate Wageningen with these kinds of high-tech solutions.

The WUR, recently named the world's best agricultural university for the fourth time in a row (by QS Rankings, an international ranking of universities), is known as a nursery of large-scale, industrialized and technological agriculture, a model that has just about been invented here.

In Wageningen, scientists tinker with the photosynthesis of plants, researchers experiment with techniques to adapt the DNA  of organisms or techies develop plant flats with LED light.

Lately, other sounds have been ringing from the Gelderse campus. The university now has a professor of animal production systems who openly advocates a reduction in livestock. Wageningen scientists are cracking down on half-hearted attempts to  green europeanagricultural policy.

On campus, you can now just get caught up in a lunch lecture by the climate rebel club Extinction  Rebellion or bump into 'Hip Vegetarian' Isabel  Boerdam, who makes a plea for meatless food. Lecture halls are full for lectures on food forests.

Groene wind

It seems like a green wind is blowing over Wageningen. Several researchers wholeheartedly agree with this. 'In Wageningen, too, there is an increasing awareness that we cannot continue to scale up and step up agriculture', says David Kleijn, professor of plant ecology and nature management.

There is a turnaround going on, confirms ecologist Anne van Doorn. 'In May, the farm of the future will open on campus. In this ecology is leading and technique serving. You wouldn't have seen that 10 years ago.'

The change also draws on the interests of new students. Subjects such as environmental sciences and climate studies are on the rise: they have scored 400 and 250 percent more students in the last ten years, respectively. Even organic farming is popular again.

It hasn't always been that way. The WUR, which started as a State Agricultural College in 1876, has been a model for modern agriculture especially since the Second World War. The university identified itself with the efforts of the post-war minister and later Commissioner Sicco  Mansholt to produce as much and as cheap food as possible under the motto: never hunger again.

This included research on production-enhancing  agricultural methods at the top of the priority list, says Jan Douwe van der Ploeg, a true WUR veteran: he came in as a student in 1968 and in 2017 went on to become professor of rural sociology. 'Everything was aimed at getting as much out of every hectare and every animal as possible. Modern stables, larger plots, mechanisation: that was wageningen thinking. The super milk cow was developed here.'

Not coincidentally, says Van der Ploeg, this research was in sync with the interests of the agro-industry: the dairy cooperatives, Rabobank and the food industry. Wageningen developed the techniques that were monetized by companies. Other interests, such as those of small farmers and conservation, were set aside.

According to him, that continues to this day. Unilever and FrieslandCampina  have their own research lab on campus, the chairman of the board of directors, Louise Fresco, has a commissioner at  Syngenta, a multinational in agriculturalchemistry. 'You can also see it in something like the focus on techniques to improve the photosynthesis of plants: that produces merchandise.'

The WUR is not an average university, stresses Van der Ploeg. 'It's a university with a mission. After the Winter of Hunger, it was never hungry in the Netherlands again. Now it's: we feed the world. This is a sacred dna mission that is in Wageningen's DNA. There's no other university that has that so strong.'

Criticism that detracted from this 'sacred' mission was not taken in gratitude, according to Van der Ploeg. Scientists who opposed the prevailing view were banned from speaking. "Debate was smothered. Counter-noise was not tolerated.

But the time when all noses had to point in the same direction is over, swears Professor Imke de Boer in Zodiac, the building where animal sciences is housed, one of the traditional WUR studies. It is considered one of the most important exponents of the new green thinking in Wageningen.

De Boer was one of the experts who advised Minister Carola Schouten on a transition to circular agriculture. It brings with it a radically different vision of livestock farming. In circular farming, animals must be used, i.e. only fed on food that is unpalatable to humans, such as grass and waste streams from the food industry (cereals, potato residues). Grow feed for livestock, as is now done on a large scale (maize for example), does not fit into the circular idea.

For the Netherlands, this would amount to a substantial reduction in the current herd (and less meat consumption). This must be swearing in the Church for colleagues who have diligently helped build large-scale, intensive and efficient livestock farming. According to De Boer, she has no resistance to her ideas at university.

'There are people who think it's never going to come to that. Maybe some people think I'm a naïve idealist.' But the conversation about this is open, she stresses. 'The sound that we need is a food system that underpins nature is more and more heard. The other day, In a room with animal scientists, I asked who had thought about eating less animal product. 80 percent raised their finger."

This kind of thing was not discussed in De Boer's Wageningen student days. 'Then it was about what the optimal food for animals was, how we could solve the manure problem. Solutions were sought within the system. Now we ask ourselves: don't we need a completely different system?'

De Boer is not a maverick. She has a lot of contact with colleagues from other fields who feel the same way. One of them is Professor of Nature Management David Kleijn. Wageningen, says Kleijn, is known worldwide as the agricultural university.

'What is sometimes forgotten is that here, too, most researchers in the Netherlands are sitting together who deal with nature.' That part of Wageningen was always less strongly propagated by the university.

For a long time, these two currents stood with their backs at each other, says Kleijn. On the one hand, the agricultural technologists who found nature especially annoying. In contrast, the ecologists who blamed agriculture for everything that went wrong in nature.

But lately, kleijn says, there has been a rapprochement. 'There's talk again. Ecological knowledge (such as the use of useful insects for pollination and pest control) is used for sustainable agriculture. On the other hand, we ecologists know that you will not solve the nitrogen crisis in nature without the help of agriculture.'

The emphasis on technology is still there, says Kleijn who started in Wageningen as a student in plant breeding. 'Technologists are always looking for quick  fixes,quick fixes. But the fight against hunger in the world is not just a technological issue. It is also a divisive issue, and a problem of consumption; that we eat too much meat especially.'

Previously, according to Kleijn, there was hardly any debate about this. Under the new chairman Louise Fresco, the atmosphere has changed. "Fresco is more open to new ideas."

A good proof of this is that in the nitrogen discussion on behalf of the WUR now an ecologist pulls the cart, stresses ecologist Wieger Wamelink, one of the creators of the map of the Netherlands in 2120. He said things would have changed. 'Then a hardcore techie would have been appointed.'

The realisation that the agricultural model has progressed has gradually sunk in with many colleagues, wamelink notes. 'We need to fix that now. It's hard for us to do anything else. Because the problems such as the loss of biodiversity and the decline of nature are piling up.'

Two faces

If you walk around the campus, where buildings carry sounding names like Helix, Atlas, Gaia  and Forum, you will see that Wageningen is a university with two faces. On the one hand, there is unilever's shiny new research lab. One hundred meters away is the Wageningen Student Farm, a soggy piece of green. Of these,  Howard  Koster, a 37-year-old organic farming student, is field  commissioner,so tospeak, chief farmer. The student garden is fully equipped according to ecological principles, Koster shows.

There is a flower garden to lure insects, a picking garden with herbs and lettuce and a patch of permaculture  where agriculture is practiced with perennials. In the corner is an orchard with old apple varieties, Koster points out, as we sop through the mud to our ankles.

That is, he explains, because they have been given a piece of vacant land from the university that has been used for years to store heavy construction equipment. 'The ground is completely compacted. It makes it difficult for him to take up water.'

Koster, a former professional soldier and on a mission in Mali, does not go along with what he calls the 'hosanna story' about the greening of Wageningen. 'I feel like greenwashing is being done. The university is moving on the wave of sustainability. I wonder how sincere that is. First they've done everything, now they're supposedto make it right.'

In practice, Koster still doesn't notice enough. 'I especially see FrieslandCampina  and Unilever on campus, Fresco at  Syngenta.' According to him, the emphasis is still too much on technology as a panacea for all ills. 'Because we're more likely to suffer from drought, researchers are looking for drought-resistant plants. We can also figure out why we're dealing with drought more often. With technology, we push the abyss further away. But it's coming for a while.'

Koster's not the only one who feels that way. Last year there was even discussion in university newspaper Resource about whether the WUR should apologize for everything that went wrong in the Green Revolution, the spread of the modern agricultural ideal around the world.

In his beautifully converted family farm in the Drentse countryside, Rudy Rabbinge shakes his head. 'I certainly wouldn't do that.' Rabbinge, since eight years with emeritus, is one of the 'grand  old  men' of the WUR. He was a professor in Wageningen for more than a quarter of a century and is regarded as one of the architects of the Green Revolution. "I'm one of those technocrats," he says cheerfully.

In his office there is a glass trophy cabinet with international awards he has received. Rabbinge is still proud of that, he admits. 'That always happens with big changes.'

But, he insists: on balance, the successes of the Green Revolution are many times greater than the failures. 'Food production in the world has increased fivefold over the past century.' Initially, this was the focus of a lot of fertilizers and pesticides. 'People have been beaten in that.'

But this has been brought back further and further in recent years, thanks in part to advice from Wageningen, according to Rabbinge. He believes that the university has promoted the use of chemistry for years. 'We have always advocated responsible use of tools. If it doesn't work, it'll hurt, I've always said. The current farmer squirts less than his father. But he produces more.'

Rabbinge strongly disputes the fact that there has been too little attention for 'green' in the past. The Main Ecological Structure, the network of nature reserves in the Netherlands, was also developed by Wageningen, he stresses. 'I helped with that.'

The commissioner of Chairman Fresco at Syngenta considers  the emeritus unhappy. 'It gives you the wrong look.' But with companies on campus, he has no problem: "With the help of companies, we can invest in the best research equipment. As long as you build safeguards that you don't become a servant of the industry.'

Some of the young generation of students think otherwise. At the opening of the Unilever lab there were student protests. Admittedly small, and rather tame. But they were just there, says

Verhelst is a member of Extinction  Rebellion, the climate action group that has a growing following amongWUR students. 'In January we organised an evening to discuss the WUR's climate policy with the governing council. We were expecting 80 students, it was 230. It indicates it's alive.'

There seems to be a change going on at the WUR, agrees Verhelst. Reluctant and not so much from above, but more from the inside. 'Among students and staff there is dissatisfaction with the course the university chooses. The hard technological side is still strongly represented in the board.'

This is the case, acknowledges ecologist Wamelink, who is carrying out experiments with growing vegetables on Martian soil. But there are also positive signs about this. This makes the campus more visually green. 'We have a wet nature garden, the grass is mowed later, which is good for insects. On our test fields we have the largest population of partridges in the wide environment.'

When a new parking garage was recently built, a special budget was set aside for green decoration. "That used to be impossible." That's right, says student Koster. "But it's still a parking garage."

CHAIRMAN LOUISE FRESCO: WAGENINGEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN GREEN

She welcomes her university's greener image, but that there is a change in thinking, louise fresco, chairman of the wur, is fighting. 'If you look at our education and research programmes, there's nothing in it that doesn't contribute to greening. It determines our whole thinking. In that sense, I think there is more continuity.'

'You have to judge things in their time. After the Second World War, it made sense that the emphasis was on production. But it was never one-sided. Everything we do contributes to making the best possible use of this earth to produce food and other useful things. With respect for the environment and the climate.

'What has changed is the way we talk about it. The term ecology is now more commonly named. We do not live in isolation; society has also changed in this respect. But greening is broader than ecology. Take research on the protein transition, the transition from animal to plant proteins. That's been done with us for a long time. This is also part of greening, although it is not so named.'

'We produce knowledge and students. Knowledge goes to society through governments, NGOs and companies. We can give advice, but we don't bake bread. That's what bakers need. Our knowledge about plant proteins goes through companies that make meat substitutes to consumers. That's why the partnership with companies is so important.'

'If you really want to change something in the world, you can't do without big companies like Unilever and Syngenta. They can roll out this greening worldwide. It's a little shortsighted to think you're selling your soul when you're working with a company. I oversee  Syngenta- not the other way around.'

READ MORE ABOUT WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY'S GREEN PLANS & RESEARCH?

The Netherlands in 2120 is clean and green, predicts a group of Wageningen scientists in a map of the Netherlands in a hundred years' time. We have twice as many forests, two-thirds  fewer livestock, green cities and circular agriculture.  The urban population is growing mainly in the east and south of the country, less so in the Randstad.

If the Netherlands wants to make the transition to circular agriculture, the herd may have to be halved, say two Wageningen professors. But veganism is neither the solution.

There has been little of efforts to green european  agriculture. Nature does not benefit, if at all, from the EU's greening subsidies. The plans have failed, says Wageningen professor David Kleijn. "Everyone agrees on that."