In the past seven years, 585 organic farms have been added in the Netherlands. According to Statistics Netherlands, there are currently around 1950 organic farms.

The increase is much slower than the European Union would like. The EU directive stipulates that by 2030, 25 percent of all agricultural land will be used for organic farming.

“We are now at around 4 percent,” says researcher Katja Logatcheva from Wageningen Economic Research. According to CBS, that was 2.1 percent seven years ago.

The Netherlands are getting closer

The Netherlands dangles in the back of the European Union. Austria has the largest proportion of organically farmed land: 25.4 percent is used for organic farming. In the EU list, the Netherlands is just ahead of Romania (3.5%) and Bulgaria (2.3%) with 3.9 percent. The European average in 2020 was 9.1 percent.

Logatcheva, who conducts research on agro-industrial chains for Wageningen University, thinks it is unrealistic for the Netherlands to meet the European Union’s target of having 25 percent organic agricultural land by 2030. “That is due to various factors. For example, the consumption of organic products is increasing only slowly. And there are quite large price differences between organic and conventional products.”

“Land expensive or not available”

“Also, land in the Netherlands is either expensive or not available,” explains Logatcheva. “In general, organic farming requires exponentially more land. And we have also become too successful in conventional, i.e. regular agriculture, so that many farmers do not switch to organic farming, where you have to reckon with higher costs.”

According to the LTO, farmers who switch from regular to organic farming face disappointing yields. Demand continues to lag while farmers want to switch. That is why the employers’ association has asked the ministry to invest more.

According to arable farmer Douwe Monsma, organic farmer and board member of Biohuis, a government that is more involved in this transition is needed. “Farmers are ready, but the government needs to do more to enable organic and close-to-nature farming.”

The Department of Agriculture says it sees it as difficult for farmers to switch to organic farming. “The transition in itself is an investment and once you can call your produce organic it also takes time and for that a farmer needs money. We are working on an organic action plan. Not only on the production side, but also on the market side. So that supply and demand are well matched, which requires non-organic products to be priced not so much different from organic products, but this is complicated. There is also the question of how much organic farming can be lost in the Netherlands given the land available,” said a spokeswoman for the ministry.