Triplery a s r e v i n an edition
We’ve been around For five years!
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Contents 1.
Preface
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2.
Agri meets Design celebrates its fifth anniversary
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3.
Why Design Thinking works
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4.
Food waste according to Dr. Julian Parfitt
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5.
The fundamental importance of a healthy soil Natural Farm Lab
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Technology has the future, but do we all agree on that?
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The harvest of the Future Food Design Awards Winner Fernando Laposse
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Farmers hit the fields Cooperative for Quitting Farmer
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Eager talent at Design Academy Eindhoven spotted
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Our network
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Colofon
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6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
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Preface Dear reader, Agri meets Design has been around for 5 years! Who would have thought it was a good idea to connect farmers and designers? What began as an experiment, has grown into a platform where new grounds are explored resulting in exceptional ideas and concepts. This is our contribution to innovating and increasing sustainability of the agriculture and horticulture industries. Something we are very proud of indeed! We offer a playing field that allows for uninhibited experimentation. A space where stakeholders can forget about the political conversation for a moment, and put on their inquisitive goggles. We ask questions such as: how should we approach this? Why do you feel the way you do? What things are of genuine importance? Designers and artists may have the answer, and sometimes even the solution. But their contribution is mainly to ask the question underlying the question, and provide more depth in the thoughtprocess about what really matters. About what the food system should really look like and the role farmers, consumers and governments should play.
Apart from ZLTO, the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, and The Province of Noord-Brabant, this also involves all the entrepreneurs, municipalities, other provinces and institutions that contributed in one way or another. Others were so enthusiastic and involved that they’ve spent months working on this. My gratitude goes out to these and all other parties involved, of which there are too many to list, for their unbridled effort and enthusiasm! You’ll find each and every one of them in this ambitious magazine, which provides an insight into the questions and projects we’re working on, sometimes even across the Dutch borders.
But... This isn’t a mere exercise in philosophy! More often than not, it is extremely practically oriented and concrete. The farmers rekindle their sense of pride, new products are developed and new technologies are tested in order to stimulate conversations and the creation of real solutions. Core values are understanding, transparency and responsibility.
And we’re steadfast to continue. For example, we’re happy to welcome the Overijssel Province as our partner. Agri meets Design continues to set up cocreation trajectories to find the astonishing new ideas and concepts our food system so desperately needs. The door is open to the creative industry to join us in our quest to solve the stubborn issues facing the food industry. Good ideas and initiatives deserve a stage and we will make sure to put them in the limelight. We want to continue to inspire, we want to stimulate and we want to show everyone that two unexpected words in the same sentence, agri and design, form a winning combination!
In addition, we’ve tested various forms and methods of design thinking and have spoken to many stakeholders. They were confident to take the leap with us. The challenge was clear, but the answer wasn’t just yet. And so the question remained whether it would be worth the investment. These people have committed and we found each other in a deep-rooted belief that new roads must be explored in order to find innovative solutions for our food system.
Enjoy your read! Judith Zengers Programme Manager Agri meets Design
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‘Lekkere Trek’ (In for a Snack) campaign by young Brabant farmers to increase awareness about the origins of food, 2013
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Agri meets Design is celebrating its fifth anniversary! When Agri meets Design presented itself during the Dutch Design Week in the fall of 2013, we got a lot of surprised looks and raised eyebrows. ‘What are farmers doing amidst all these designers?’ was an often uttered question. And admittedly, Agri meets Design was quite the odd one out. But after a successful first edition and persistent interest from farmers, visitors, designers and the chain, we can now look back at five extraordinarily productive years. Not only did the platform give creativity and ‘thinking differently’ a more prominent place in the food-related thought-process, but we can also look back at some extraordinary collaborations and unexpected results. We’d like to give you an overview of five years of Agri meets Design.
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Agri Meets Design celebrates its fifth anniversary
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Timeline MARCH Agri meets Design was founded by a group of change-minded people from the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, ZLTO and the Province of Noord-Brabant.
Over 10,000 visitors at Agri meets Design in Eindhoven.
SUMMER Tour through the Netherlands with Food Cabinet and photographer Ester Grass Vergara in order to meet farmers and designers and take photographs to tell their story. OCTOBER First edition of Agri meets Design at the Dutch Design Week including an exposition, FARM:LABS about gamification, robots, new revenue models, crowd funding, smart packaging and the farm of the future with dairy farmer Rob Dennis and pig farmer Henk Roefs, among others. We also organized the first PolderHack where farmers and hackers went at it with open data. The exposition included the project De MelkSalon by Sietske Klooster with organic dairy farmer Boy Griffioen.
Agri meets Design appears on the NOS eight o’clock news.
MAY Agri meets Design exposition during the Food Film Festival in Amsterdam. JULY Agri meets Design was present during the Department of Design in Cape Town as part of the Dutch trade mission to organise a FARM:LAB and work together to formulate ideas for South-African agriculture issues.
OCTOBER Agri meets Design presents a Greenhouse at the Ketelhuisplein during the Dutch Design Week. The FARM:LABS were the flagship of the Boer&Bunder app where open-data enabled information about agricultural grounds in the Netherlands was made available. Another hackathon took place, themed around food waste. This is where the SUR+ (now: The Odds) project was developed, which aims to find destinations for vegetable and fruit surplus.
The blue farm enters the scene as Agri meets Design’s flagship.
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FEBRUARY Agri meets Design is present at design conference Design Indaba in Cape Town, at the invitation of the Dutch consulate which is committed to co-creation in the city. JUNE The three farmers Marcel Derks, Anton Bartelen and Maarten Janse and designer Renee Scheepers kick off their soil project in search of sustainable soil usage and mitigation of salinization. The soil dinner with important key figures was the result.
OCTOBER FoodLabPeel design kick-off in collaboration with bkkc. Five designers and the five cattle farmers Twan Engelen, the Heyde family, Marcel and Miriam Berkvens, Henk Kuipers and the Verberne family from Brabant province got to work. Issues varied from more transparency in the food chain to visibility for the consumer and the identification of egg production for export. #Mannenvlees (male meat) was also born, a campaign and men’s barbecue to get male meat like billy goat on the menu.
MARCH Collaboration with Design Academy Eindhoven Man & Food (then: Food NON Food) students kick-off.
Third edition of Agri meets Design in De Kas at the Dutch Design Week themed around the future of agriculture and the natural environment. Agri meets Design brings two farmers together with two teams of designers during the AgroFood day at the Drive-in Festival to brainstorm about seduction and deception in agrofood.
APRIL 24 ArtEZ designers presented themselves to four agricultural entrepreneurs in Arnhem. They focused on the identity of the raspberry for Kwekerij de Westerbouwing, thought about the functionalities of plants for Agrifood Support, came up with a rural store concept for farmer Spierings and thought about how to promote billy goat meat for goat farmer Jeanette van de Ven.
SEPTEMBER Collaboration with design students of the Hogeschool van Amsterdam kick-off. They design concepts for local dairy supply for dairy farmers Hartstocht and Marten Verdenius. Results included milk tastings allowing for tasting of the ‘terroir’ of milk and the kick-off of an Amsterdam-based milk cooperative for local supply.
Maxima visits Agri meets Design in Eindhoven.
Ov visi Emb
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OCTOBER Fourth edition of Agri meets Design at the Dutch Design Week with presentations of the project FoodLabPeel results: PateCafé, EGGchange, Stroop and LUCY.
JANUARY European collaboration project Food Heroes starts. Six countries in Northwest Europe attack food waste together with designers.
MAY Launch of the first Future Food Design Awards, seeking new international design talent. In collaboration with The Dutch Institute of Food&Design (continue on page 23).
ver 26,000 itors in The bassy of Food
Agri meets Design is nominated as one of the twenty ‘best-of’ Dutch Design Week.
Natural Farm Lab project kick-off where the three designers Lobke Meekes, Martina Florians and Matthijs Bosman explore the meaning of organic cattle farming (continue on page 19). Second year of collaboration with Design Academy Eindhoven, dept. Man & Food.
JUNE A Design Thinking session kicks off the Voormalige Agrarische Bedrijfslocaties (VAB) [Former Agricultural Business Premises] project to talk about rural vacancy, culminating in the launch of a new cooperative (continue on page 27).
OCTOBER Agri meets Design celebrates it’s 5-year anniversary during the World Design Event with The Embassy of Food. Curator Marije Vogelzang curates an exposition about the future of food. Project Food Heroes shows first results during the Dutch Design Week.
NOVEMBER Presentation of the three designers from the Natural Farm Lab project in Overijssel.
Project Strooop! Nominated for the Dutch Design Awards. Out of 73 applications Fernando Laposse emerges as winner of both the audience prize and the jury prize of the Future Design Awards.
DESIGN Design agency Ruigwerk, project bureau Food Cabinet and the designers of Wunderwald do a great job for the fifth year on end by designing and constructing The Embassy of Food.
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Dairy farmer Marcel Derk takes part in the project Tot op de Bodem (To the Dregs), 2015
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Why Design Thinking works
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By: editorial staff
Why apply Design Thinking to agriculture and food questions? What is the added value? It is an often heard question throughout the past five years. During that time, we’ve learned a lot about what Design Thinking adds for both farmer and designer, and how we can best apply the method. What is Design Thinking? In a nutshell Design Thinking means that a certain issue is viewed from the perspective of a designer. The term Design Thinking was first discussed by Herbert A. Simon in 1969. He described 5 steps: • Empathize a true sense and understanding of the situation • Define definition and interpretation of the problem • Ideate idea generation • Prototype make a test product and experiment • Test testing the product/idea and develop further Co-creation We bring farmers and designers together to accomplish solutions for farming problems. We call this co-creation: we can only create value by bringing the capacities of various parties together, and we can only make a difference if we build relationships. This is how we intend to instigate a true movement in the agriculture industry towards a more sustainable system.
Optimism and a different perspective Firstly, the added value is determined in the approach itself. You can have farmers talk to researchers and consultants, but they often come up with solutions the farmers already thought about or that are just not helpful. The dilemmas are so tough that even these advisors from the very own agricultural industry don’t know how to deal with them. Inge van Schie-Rameijer | farmer
“Designers can help us think outside the box and accomplish dreams.” However, designers originate from outside this domain. They don’t have an agricultural background and no preconceptions about how things should be done. With an open mind and a new perspective, they dive into the complexity associated with such agricultural issues. A designer is trained to get to the core irrespective of existing frameworks or (sales) interests. And they don’t do it alone, it also acts as a stimulant for farmers to re-consider the issue and come up with solutions themselves. A condition however is that a solution must always exist; a generous dose of optimism is very necessary to tackle great challenges.
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Juanita de Jonge | owner an apple farmer De Fruitakker
“Lobke, the designer, approaches the procurement process in a completely different way than I do; she asks the consumer why they choose a specific type of apple or why they leave it on the shelves, and builds on that feedback.” Unexpected results Another important aspect to the Agri meets Design approach is that the outcome is always an unknown up front. This can be difficult to explain to investors because after all, what result is one investing in? And yet it is important to maintain this open-ended approach. The designer can only reach extremely surprising results together with the farmer if we leave the autonomous space of the designer intact and maintain the freedom, openness to experiment and room for a non-linear process. Designers are people who seek to find the question underlying the question. This is what can lead to unexpected results. Anne van der Zwaag | Director OBJECT, curator and writer
“The agricultural industry offers designers the opportunity to really make a difference, accomplish change, in the heart of our society, as food plays a key role in global issues like wealth, poverty, waste and sustainability.” An example from the FoodLabPeel project is the PatéCafé, a pop-up bar and product to trace the pig back to the farm and infuse value into the unsaleable parts of the pig in a beautiful and tasty way: in a paté. It was an unplanned, praised result to great satisfaction of both farmer and designer. Martijn Paulen | Director Dutch Design Week
“Pig farmer Berkvens rekindles sense of pride by collaborating with designers.”
OUR METHODS During the past years, we’ve tested a lot of methods to Set up collaborations and develop new ideas and concepts. An example is the FARM:LABS format we developed with Wieteke Brocken and the Brabants Kenniscentrum Kunst en Cultuur (bkkc) where farmers and designers enter into a one-on-one, long-term, in-depth collaboration. Also, we organise Design Thinking meetings where farmers and stakeholders are stimulated to come up with solutions themselves. This can be a half-day session or a six-month research project. Sometimes hackathons are the right way to go when we think data and technology can contribute to the solution. In addition, we’ve got workshops, contests and our very own Future Food Design Awards since 2017.
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Our lessons learned We also learned a lot about how we can best deploy Design Thinking, including the duration of a collaboration. Weekends of collaborating result in interesting directions of thought and even a short session of a few hours can offer the necessary inspiration. But even better still is when farmers and designers get more time. Both sides can accomplish a higher degree of understanding and trust, which benefits the result. It ensures deepening of the content and the project, as well as more time to fine-tune the results. For these reasons we began our long-term design projects such as FoodLabPeel, Food Heroes and Natural Farm Lab in 2016. Of course, we also gained a lot of experience with what doesn’t work. For example, farmers aren’t inclined to seek out the brainpower of designers themselves because it just doesn’t occur to them or because they find it difficult to identify a fitting designer. That’s why it is so important to physically bring farmers and designers together for a mutual acquaintance session regarding a specific theme. And the click counts: physical match-making will have to cause a spark to be able to work together. We’re also still contemplating what to do with the results. Of course we’re communicating about it with media and through our platform, that is part of the process. And we actively scout interesting stages such as Dutch Design Week. But sometimes a highly useful communication tool emerges or a product with true market potential is developed. In those cases, who will take on further development of the results? That is one of the areas where we’re still looking for suitable partners.
Pig farmers Marcel and Mirian Berkvens
“It is important that you can fully support your own business operation and communicate this in an insightful and readable way to outsiders. Designers can help in that respect.”
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Articl Food waste according to Dr. Julian Parfitt
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by: editorial staff
Food waste has been a hot topic for several years. A lot of initiatives were born to combat residual streams both at the consumers’ side and in the chain. Agri meets Design took on this challenge as well; we brought designers and farmers together, for the first time at a pan-European scale, in order to come up with smart solutions (continue on page 18). Because we’ve already been working on this topic for a while, we decided that we should find out more about where food waste stands right now. There’s no better person to call than Dr. Julian Parfitt, who became an expert on food waste as a professor, researcher and policy advisor to the European Union. We were highly honoured that he picked up the phone and was willing to talk to us. 1. How do you view the current state of food waste, now that you’ve been working on the subject for ten years? “There’s still a huge problem in the agricultural industry when it comes to food waste. In part because food chains in the whole of Europe tend to overproduce. Why would the industry refrain from choosing the very best products available, also if they are offered at a good price? As a result, food surplus has become a function of the agricultural system we’re currently in. A sideeffect is that prices are inflated or collapse, which means we aren’t getting full value out of a product. We aren’t paying the right amount for the value a cucumber, for example, represents. In addition, there is an unfair trade problem. This refers to deliberate speculation or cancelling an order much too late. Farmers need to schedule their produce far ahead, from seed to end-product, and there is only a short period of time where the produce can be
harvested while at its best. Thus a cancellation of a large order can prove disastrous for a farmer. Not to mention the loss of energy and resources that the plants have cost.” 2. How can we combat this type of waste in the chain? “We have to re-organize the revenue model.We can remove these aspects of food waste from the chain if we accomplish good collaboration across the entire chain. There are only a few large retailers in Europe, so it should be possible. A handful of entrepreneurs have now began combating food waste. They can control what goes on in the chain and understand in great detail where the losses are taking place. They should use century-old methods such as simply talking to the farmers, their suppliers. In addition, potato farmers and processing companies are joining forces to explain to producers of meals how important it is that they purchase the entire harvest including the part that doesn’t seem ideal at first glance.” 3. That sounds like the collaboration between farmers, companies and the industry is bearing enough fruits, or is it not enough?
“Our political system should be more directive, provide more steering.” “Which is difficult at a pan-European scale because it would impact the entire food industry. At this point, there are no drives for companies apart from what we call CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility.
le
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Policy can provide more direction to companies. And it is a pressing necessity for all parties that Europe accomplishes sustainable food chains. Food waste is a way to open a discussion about sustainability, but it also a way of not talking about the greater issues of how the food chain as a whole is functioning. More and more people in Europe, for example, are dealing with food poverty all the while unnecessary surplus’ exist as well as the increasing realization that we are harming the environment. For that reason we need a pan-European food policy that doesn’t just address food waste, but access to food and the value of food as well.” 4. Do you see a real shift of the debate towards true prevention of food waste and considering food as food? “There’s a debate going on about a legal measure to place food in a sort of hierarchy of use, i.e. how the food is being utilized. Finding good ways of redistributing food when surplus looms, and keeping it in the food chain is more difficult for food than for commodities like biogas. After all, we’re talking about fresh produce. Financial motives dominate processing of surpluses far too often, but it is safe to say that when food ends up in a biogas installation, this is no cause of celebration. The recouped energy amounts to a tenth at most of the energy required to produce the food in the first place. Policy measure can prevent this type of practice which is important to understand.” 5. How could the entire chain collaborate against food waste, what would be the dream scenario? “To accomplish anything meaningful at all, we must bring people with various backgrounds together: from farmers to processing companies and traders. When you think about it, it makes so much sense a supermarket cannot do business without a farmer, and vice versa. There are a lot of farmers and mutual competition. In addition, and as discussed before, farmers are subject to environmental circumstances. For that reason in particular it is necessary to make long-term agreements and build relationships in the chain. These relationships are a necessity for mitigating large problems and food loss, facilitating mutual understanding and remaining competitive. Collaboration is the only way to reach solutions. Finally, you need a system where traders will experience (financial) consequences of improper handling of food, otherwise they will never change their practice. Traders currently possess business information about amounts and losses for example, but it only flows in one direction. This information
should also be deployed to give feedback and accomplish improvements in the food chain to prevent waste. Policy can create a type of code that makes that information available in the chain. In addition, you want to make sure that there is no abuse of power and parties aren’t unjustly punished when it comes to indirect suppliers. This too could be regulated by policy. This should really be on the political agenda. But for now making sure that all available information is distributed fairly across the chain, is the most achievable and would be a good start, as well as thinking about the added value for non-premium products currently ending up in residual currents.”
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Agri meets Design visits Cape Town in 2016
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OUR PROJECT
Oyster mushroom Farmer Mariëlle van Lieshout & artist Doreen Westphal worked together to develop a botanic bite: a sausage made of the stems of oyster mushrooms.
FOOD HEROES AGAINST FOOD WASTE Europeans throw away an average of 150 kg of food products per person per year. In addition, a lot of room for improvement exists at the beginning of the food chain. There are plenty of products in the second and third class and residual streams that are currently virtually without value. Many farmers, fishermen and growers are concerned about this. How can these products find their way to food for human consumption instead of being doomed to incineration in biogas installations? Agri meets Design can help! Together with the Northwest European project Food Heroes, we brought six designers together with six agricultural entrepreneurs to address residual streams. Here are the results >
Apple farmer Juanita de Jonge worked with Lobke Meekes. Plukgoed is the result, which makes people think about the apple and teaches them to appreciate the fruit when it is at its best: right after the third harvest. Leek grower Jan van Lierop has a surplus of leaves after cleaning the leek, and designer Isaac Monte decided to turn it into leek paper. Perfect for packaging, for example for his own leek.
Designer Jalila Essaïdi took on the bay leaves of grower Charl Goossens. The oil is a disinfectant, so producing a bay leaf oil-infused band aid make a lot of sense. In addition, the leaves can be used for the band aid
Anne van Rijsingen from Proverka worked together with designer Tjeerd Veenhoven and developed bio-composites of residual streams of vegetable fibre.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CHECK: WWW.NWEUROPE.EU
De Foodcurators took on the case of baby roosters because they are considered unsuitable for consumption. They are often gassed right after hatching because they cannot lay eggs and don’t grow enough meat. One of the questions asked to the public was: do you feel that gender determination inside the egg is morally justified?
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The fundamental importance of a healthy soil By: editorial staff
It is a question many farmers are battling with: what exactly is a healthy soil and how do I accomplish it? Because if you want longevity, healthy soil is the most important capital in your entire business. With a decreasing farmland surface, salinization and erosion at a global scale, our food security requires us to keep the soil healthy or even revitalize it. How do you ensure healthy soil, with enough air, water, minerals and carbon? We’ve listed a couple interesting one’s for you!
Compost
Composting is not difficult, but it does take time. Most of the work however is done by the microorganisms themselves. The farmer just needs to make sure they get a varied diet - offering various types of organic material - and everything needs to be regularly turned to enhance the fermenting process. The resulting compost is a nutrient-rich product that can be used as an (organic) alternative to artificial manure or fertilizer. Unlike artificial manure, it is rich in carbon which is important for the structure, the water-containing capacity of the soil as well as nutrient delivery.
Manure
Manure and artificial manure constitute the age-old method of re-supplying the soil with nutrients. The type of manure produced, strongly depends on the design of stable housing the cows. In old pen-barns. The cows used to defecate onto the straw in the barn. This resulted in so-called ‘farmyard manure’. But since the sixties, more and more Dutch farmers began using cubicle stables. In this design, all waste, both manure and urine, falls down to be collected beneath in the slurry pit. This results in liquid manure, or ‘slurry’. Both types of manure are bound to strict rules and regulations in terms of how and in what quantities they may be spread across the farmland.
Changing produce
Another way of enriching the soil is to plant crops that binds carbon in the soil, which makes the soil healthy, or to opt for crops with long roots which gives the soil extra airiness. This could be beans, sorghum or legumes such as clover. This means a farmer will replace the regular crops by these soilfriendly alternatives. This is called crop rotation. This means a farmer is investing in the soil for an entire year, at the cost of any harvest and revenue for that whole period of time.
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Carbon as a business case
It can take up to ten years for the soil to gain in fertility, which means that a year of crop rotation isn’t going to cut it for the farmer. Healthy soil is something for farmers who are in it for the long haul. This means that investments are compared to the time it takes to improve the soil. And vice versa: the current soil condition is affected by how the generations before you have treated it, so a farmer may well begin with a disadvantage. How do you make sure that an investment is worth your while?
Soil remains an issue
How do we reward farmers for healthy soil? How do we make it interesting for farmers to become true caretakers of that soil? This remains an important question for farmers themselves, but also for our entire food supply and the future of our agricultural lands. Should you have any ideas as a designer, want to spread the word or do you see any potential solutions? Get in touch with our programme manager judith.zengers@agimeetsdesign.com. Want more first-hand information from farmers concerned with their soil? Watch the films Bodemboeren and Koolstofboeren by Fransjan de Waard and Joris van der Kamp.
The Louis Bolk institute is working with ZLTO and Bionext to explore the possibility of formulating a good business case involving a reimbursement for carbon storage by farmers. If you can purchase carbon credits to compensate for your emission, why would they not be reimbursed to farmers? What could such a business case look like, does the consumer pay a little extra or should agricultural subsidies be geared towards rewarding carbon binding? An inventive idea which will be developed in a newly kicked-off two-year project. For more information, please visit verantwoordeveehouderij.nl.
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Natural Farm Lab Agri meets Design has also focused on natureinclusive farming the past year, a subject that will remain on the agenda in 2018. In the Natural Farm Lab project, three designers focused on the principles of natural cattle breeding and what the implications may be for farmers and vets. Here are the results! ProefBoer Lobke Meekes founded ProefBoer, a project exploring what it’s like to be a farmer. Once every six weeks she meets with consumers to investigate products and their origin. What does natural cattle farming entail? How do you as a consumer want your product to be handled? What decisions were made in the process leading up to the purchase? Together with the consumers, Meekes takes an empirical look at the ups, downs and dilemmas farmers are facing. Lobke does this every six weeks. Want to join? Send an email to: info@proefboer.nl
Generation-Diary Martine Florians got to the bottom of the dilemmas facing farmers by joining them at the kitchen table and soon found out how important generationtranscending family traditions and farming practices are. Martine facilitates one-on-one table discussions for taking difficult decisions, bridging the gap to previous and future generations.
One of the farmers at the table:
“In our family everyone gets a big labour dispute around the age of 48. I better tell my daughter about this.” What would they do? How can they be aided? By writing it down, a discussion is conducted which is the objective. Martine wants to put that discussion on the table. In the GenerationDiary, farmers can literally write down what the strength of previous generations was, what challenges they are facing now and what type of company they want for their offspring. According to Martine, knowing where you stand and what you want is the first step towards change. This way, the practices and convictions of ancestors and great-grandchildren are included in the decision here and now. This project was set up in collaboration with Platform Natuurlijke Veehouderij, Agri meets Design, Kunstenlab and the Overijssel province.
OUR PROJECT
Superland Matthijs Bosman founded ‘Superland’, the first country-wide supermarket that does not exist. It explicitly does not take part in the price war that victimizes farmers, animals and consumers. Superland is a protest against the current food distribution chain. A chain where 65,000 farmers supply food to 17 million Dutchmen. Not directly, but through supermarkets’ procurement offices. There are five of them(!). Superland is an initiative to think about new revenue models. Because, Bosman reasons, only by breaking with the current system, we can start producing with more attention to animal wellbeing, nature and landscape. “If farmers get a better revenue, livestock farming will become less intense. Also, the consumer is increasingly pro-sustainable production”, says Matthijs.
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Technology has the future, but we all agree on that? By: editorial staff The Internet of Things (IoT), data collection and robotization - we are at the brink of large technological developments that will also be used in our food production. Agri meets Design follows these developments closely and will continue to focus on technology as a theme over the next five years (see box). According to Pieter van Hout, project lead Innovation of the AgriFoodTech Platform, our society also has a noticeable distrust with regards to technical advancement. We bombarded him with questions about the most promising technologies, and how we want to deal with them as a society. When it comes to technology in food, what is the public opinion in your view? “Overly positive. It depends which specific tech you’re discussing, of course. With regards to Vertical Farming with LED lights in food towers, for example, the perception is often positive. But when you mention that this may also include animals, the conversation shifts. Add genetic modification to the mix, and the temperature of the room decreases a couple degrees more. We also notice that it helps a lot if you explain why a certain technology is being developed. This is something the industry often forgets.” You were promoting several technologies at the Dutch Design Week, including letting people taste vegetarian Filet Americain. What was the response like? “They enjoyed the experience! That was the main objective, it has to be a nice experience for the visitor. We try to gauge how people feel about new technologies in a way that is as accessible as possible. So far people were also very enthusiastic about these new technologies.” What are the greatest challenges facing companies with regards to the future? “Shelf-life remains an important theme. Western consumers are raised with the idea that a wealth of food is always available, and businesses try to live up to this expectation by stretching the boundaries of shelf-life. This is something the industry is struggling with. Another challenge is sharing data and information throughout the chain. This allows for better prevention of food waste, safeguarding of food safety and reduction of fraud-sensitivity.
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But if you share all the data and information about your piece of the chain, everybody else also knows about your stock, cost price, margin and where you source your product. That is sensitive information which makes it difficult to share. How do we want to deal with that as an industry?” What is your top 3 of most promising technologies set to solve serious problems? “ “I think that smart, autonomous, small robots will be doing a lot of good for farming and horticulture. As the robots become smaller, smarter and cheaper, they become available to smaller scale farming operations.”
“In-vitro meat will also get a boost, because of high-profile investors backing the tech such as Richard Branson and Leonardo DiCaprio.” “Another technology I have great expectations for is artificial meat as meat substitute. By combining various plants, meat can be simulated. The products will probably be processed, so whether or not it will be well-received depends on the public and the focus on trends such as artisan and pure food. On a related note, in-vitro meat will also get a boost, because of high-profile investors backing the tech such as Richard Branson and Leonardo DiCaprio.”
“Imagine a system that can predict with 85% accuracy what will be consumed and when!” “A third technology I have high hopes for, are selflearning programmes that will identify connections our own logical reasoning is incapable of doing. Patterns of human choices will become more visible which gives us a better understanding of our own consumption patterns. Imagine a system that can predict with 85% accuracy what will be consumed and when! That would prevent a lot of food, resources and energy waste. But what would that imply for the power balance in the chain? These are questions we asked ourselves and want to push forward.”
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How can we best deal with controversial techniques? Can transparency be the key? “A lot of revolutionary technologies will meet resistance. And that’s ok.The industry (Agri, Food & Tech) must show what they’re working on and why they are developing what they are.So tell your story, why do you innovate, what is your challenge at the moment, share your solution and continue developing it. Take the consumer along for the innovation ride.”
Pieter van Hout, Innovation project leader of the AgriFoodTech Platform
People tasting high tech food during DDW, 2018.
TECHNOLOGY AS A THEME Technology was a recurring theme throughout the past five years. Based on a hackathon the Boer & Bunderapp was developed allowing everyone to see, based on open data, what the fields of the farmers look like. The app, launched during the Nature Day at The Embassy of Food, displays various open data sets for all 1.9 million hectares of farming grounds in the Netherlands. This allows you to learn about things like crop rotation, soil type, nature management and height. Useful to both farmer and consumer. Agri meets Design wants to continue investing in the subject of technology throughout the coming years. We believe that technology can be a handy tool, but that technology also borders ethical issues. Designers are unique posers of questions and explorers which we need to develop, criticize and enhance new technologies. They can test exciting combinations and have the capacity to provide technology with a (visual) story in order to take it from the backrooms into society. In other words, we are looking forward to the technology of the future!
WHAT THE AGRIFOODTECH PLATFORM DOES The platform instigates a dialogue about the role of technology in making the food system sustainable. The AgriFoodTech Platform is an initiative by LTO Nederland, FNLI, FME and the 4TU and is supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. For more information, check out https://agrifoodtech.nl.
OUR PROJECT
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Campaign image from the first Future Food Design Awards, 2017
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The harvest of the Future Food Design Awards By: editorial staff
SAM, The Symbiotic Autonomous Machine explores robot rights. Marie Caye & Arvid Jense
MELA • Maria Apud-Bell • England The bacteria in your gut say a lot about the state of your wellbeing. Maria Apud-Bell from London wondered if these bacteria could be measured to then draw precise conclusions about someone’s health. She developed a chocolate containing a cocktail of bacteria. Using an app that reads the information from the bacteria while in your gut, you can see exactly how to manage the microbiotics and adjust your diet. Would you take one?
GENE MACHINE • Mies Loogman • The Netherlands Say, would you prefer ‘regular’ or genetically modified vegetables on your plate? We all agree that a sustainable food future is highly necessary. Still, there are great differences of opinion about how that future should be accomplished. Do we want to let nature run its course with regards to our edible landscape, and if we do, will it be nutritious enough? Or do we opt for high-tech solutions such as genetic modification? And what would be the consequences? Mies Loogman explores this with her Gene Machine.
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PLANTI15 • Botanic Bites • The Netherlands Over 60,000 kg of oyster mushrooms are produced every year by Van Lieshout, but the stems end up in the bin - about 20% of the harvest. What if you turn it into a plant-based sausage? That’s Botanic Bite. It is fifteen times longer than a regular sausage, because the same amount of land carries fifteen times the plant-base protein production capacity compared to animal-based protein. The Botanic Bite both addresses food waste and produces tastymeat alternatives.
Together with The Dutch Institute of Food&Design, we launched the very first Future Food Design Awards this year. This keeps us and our fan base updated on the latest trends, and it allows us to discover talent and give ourselves that little extra push in order to find the most creative solutions and collaborations. So we asked designers worldwide to submit their innovative and radical designs for a chance to win the jury and public award. The jury, consisting of Marije Vogelzang, Koert van Mensvoort, Nadine Botha, Hans Dagevos and Jeroen Klompe, chose the Mexican Fernando Laposse as their winner (turn the page for more info on Totomoxtle). And the audience also chose him as their favourite. We received a total of 73 submissions from 24 different countries. The initiatives on this page unfortunately didn’t make it to the nominations, but do deserve your attention!
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Totomoxtle, Mexico The three nominees Fernando Laposse, Marie Caye & Arvid Jense and Katharina Unger battled for the jury prize (5000,- euro) & the audience prize (2500,- euro) at the FFDA. Fernando proved way ahead of his competition and got hold of both prizes. Totomoxtle is a project inspired by Mexico’s relationship with corn. Fernando used the skins of corn to create a veneer that showcases the naturally colourful variation of corn. The process is quite simple: the skins are flattened and stuck onto a hard material. As a result, the product can be sliced into tiles, ready for use. Not only is Totomoxtle a new sustainable material, Laposse also hopes that his project will create more awareness about the insecure future of farmers and traditional harvesting methods in a modern world. Fernando wants to use the prize money, which is intended to stimulate the project, to further involve and educate the local community
Mexican corn farmer explores the suitability of soil for growing native corn variety.
The Future Food Design Awards is an initiative by Agri meets Design and The Dutch Institute of Food&Design and is supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature & Food Quality, ZLTO, the Province of Noord-Brabant and backed by Triodos Foundation. The design was done by RAW COLOR.
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OUR PROJECT
Fernando Laposse wins jury& audience prize!
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Farmers hit the fields How does a farmer gain more appreciation from his fellow-citizens? A question that is always on Agri meets Design’s mind. Farmers have had a tough year with colleagues giving up the profession and negative media attention. This does not contribute to a dialogue or increasing understanding. That is why we asked journalist Felicia to seek out three real stories from farmers who manage to stand out in their field in a positive way. The Fipronil issue, stable fires and abuse in slaughterhouses: the agricultural industry seemed to be dealing with one scandal after another last year. It is difficult to deal with for farmers. They work hard to meet the strict environmental and animal well-being requirements, but get a low price for their product and are depicted in the media and politics as barbarians, polluters or cheaters. ‘The government thinks that farmers are only polluting the environment and doesn’t seem to realize that we also feed the people’, a poultry farmer told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. In regional newspaper De Gelderlander, a farmer compared it to a witch hunt: ‘Back in the days, people were looking for women to burn at the stake. Now its farmers, foreigners or Zwarte Piet.’ This year, it’s enough. Sure, there is a divide between the countryside and the city, but this divide doesn’t need to become a huge crater. Without farmers, there’s no food. People should become more aware of that, according to farmers. Babies at the farm Lilian and Mathé van Goch are running an agricultural daycare centre in addition to their dairy farm, hosting two hundred children every week. Mathé van Goch: ‘Parents are increasingly seeking peace and quiet, space and routine. We literally give them the space, this is virtually non-existent in normal daycare centres.’ Because milk rates have been fluctuating so strongly, the couple founded daycare centre De Vrijbuiter in 2009, with three children at the time. This number has increased to two hundred per week, cared for by eighteen employees. It is a great source of income if you do it right, but it is also an investment, van Goch explains: ‘Last year we’ve built a completely new daycare centre. Colleague farmers sometimes think that is strange, that money would have bought you a stable that can house two hundred cows? But it gives us a lot of extra happiness.’
Article Door: Felicia Alberding, freelance journalist
By now the daycare centre has become as important for our income as the dairy farm. Sometimes the dairy farm work even comes second to the daycare centre. ‘If there are children present on the property, we cannot operate any tractors’, says van Goch. The corn harvest will have to wait until the evening. In his eyes there can be no better PR for a farming business than a daycare centre. ‘Campina open days are nice, but they don’t paint an honest picture. We host two hundred people every week.’ They also get to see the less pleasant side of things. ‘Sometimes a cow or a calf will die. That doesn’t happen lightly, first we do everything in our power to make the animal healthy again. Because children and their parents get to see the entire story, their understanding of why this happens improves.’ Climate-neutral eggs and hen burgers If the feared animal well-being watch-dog Wakker Dier advertises your eggs, it is safe to say that you’ve succeeded as a chicken farmer. Last spring this happened for Ruud Zanders, one of the initiators of Kipster. They say they are the most animal, human and environmentally friendly chicken farm in the world. Wakker Dier are so impressed that the young hens aren’t gassed but get to grow up to be processed into Lidl chicken burgers instead, that they made a positive radio commercial about it. During the Christmas holidays, a lot of curious people visited the stable in Venray, says Zanders, sometimes all the way from Utrecht or Amsterdam. To his own surprise, they were also visited by Wakker Dier sponsors: ‘They had heard the commercial and bought the eggs at Lidl and wanted to see the stable with their own eyes.’ Lidl is procuring all the eggs for the next five years and the first hen burgers are already being sold. Zanders can’t and won’t think past this five-year period. ‘First we need to create a strong brand.’ Plans do exist to build new stables and find other egg channels, such as the processing industry. ‘Kipster is aligned with what is current in society. A solution for the problem with young hens, trapping of particulate matter, a climateneutral egg.’ It is easy for a farmer to complain: there’s never any positive news about us, but he believes those positive stories must be self-created. ‘The negative stories, such as fipronil and the manure dossier, are actually created by us farmers. Why doesn’t the pig farm say: we will only produce climate-neutral pork meat?’
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Facebook as a mouth-piece In 2016 he went viral with a Facebook message about the lack of respect for farmers and failing environment policy of the government. Since then, 23 year old sheep farmer Tom Dekker has become a spokesman of sorts for the agricultural industry, making headlines on a regular basis. Recently with a video about how to save a sheep stuck on its back. ‘This year we’ll really turn the tide’, he says confidently. ‘Our politicians have no idea how the farmers work, and policy is determined behind desks by people with no agricultural background’. The sheep farmer and herder is standing for election, on behalf of the CDA, (Christian Democratic party) for a seat on the municipal council in Meppel. ‘I’m not getting into politics for my own gains. I’m doing this for the people who feel unheard. People tell me: ‘you’re saying what we’re all thinking’.
Whether it be out of necessity, curiosity or idealism, the possibilities to change how we farm are endless. Social media are a nifty tool but real contact is the most important thing for Ruud Zanders, Mathé and Lilian van Goch and Tom Dekker. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Just wave next time a tractor drives by.
COOPERATIVE FOR QUITTING FARMERS Recognition for the farmer, a sense of pride and appreciation from the public for their work, is a theme that has been on Agri meets Design’s mind for five years. As more farmers are quitting and rural businesses are becoming vacant, serious action is required. Social designer Tabo Goudswaard led a design thinking session with a group of farmers. Together they came up with the idea of founding a Cooperative for Quitting Farmers in order to push the discussion about the fate of these farmers and their vacant barns. This doesn’t just involve loss of capital or re-assigning the vacant barns, but also about their own identity as farmers. What will these farmers do if not farming?
Tabo Goudswaard – Social designer and owner Studio Goudswaard “Just like in design, farming is not an activity, but rather an identity. That is why quitting is so difficult.” The group also explored how policy makers, farmers and financiers can help each other. The cooperative was founded during the Dutch Design Week and Rijksbouwmeester Floris Alkemade signed up as their first official member. He believes that consumers take full shelves for granted:
“We forget (as consumers, ed.) how far-reaching our food and its consequences are. It is time for a new level of self-awareness in agriculture and consumers alike, in order to realize sustainable food and energy production. And farmer’s wisdom is much needed!” Together with other members, a serious effort is made to combat vacancy.
This project was backed financially by the Gelderland province and the Plattelands-OntwikkelingsProgramma. The partners in the projects are HAS Hogeschool, ZLTO, Afdeling Rijk in Nijmegen, the Beuningen municipality, Berg en Dal municipality and ZLTO. This project was realized with the support of Design Thinking led by Gamechangers Studio NL.
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When he takes his herds into town, he notices how curious people are. This gives him hope. ‘The divide is not even the citizen’s fault. There is so much disagreement in the political climate and even the agricultural industry is divided. Organic and regular farmers attack each other, while when push comes to shove we’re all doing the same thing: producing food.’ This has to be the year of positive news about farmers, he believes. If elected, he will keep farming (‘politics can be done in the evening’). The only thing he would consider giving up his farming for, is The Hague. ‘My ultimate goal is to become Secretary of Agriculture’.
Chief Government Architect of the Netherlands Floris Alkemade is the first member to sign in favour of the cooperative for quitting farmers, October 2017
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Itamar Gilboas Food Chain Project, exposition for Agri meets Design at Dutch Design Week 2013.
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Eager talent at Design Academy Eindhoven Spotted
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By: editorial staff
‘Designers design for people. Food is the core of what people need and it connects us all. It constitutes one of the largest economies in the world. Meanwhile food is responsible for large global problems, i.e. greenhouse gas emissions, poor animal well-being and escalated soil usage.’
For the Design Academy Eindhoven it makes perfect sense to focus on these challenges and challenge students to commit their design talent to this cause.
This is what you read when you visit the page of Food & Man, the first bachelor’s degree in the world focusing on food and design. Students from all over the globe, from China to Finland, choose to come to the Netherlands for this course.
“I can’t think of anything that touches us like food. It is the soul of life, a single unifier,”
Marije Vogelzang, head of the Man & Food design department:
Merle Bergers 40% PULP lab • Question: What kind of application can be found for carrot pulp, a residual product of scraped, pre-packaged carrots? When scraping carrots into baby-carrots, 40% of the carrot is lost. Merle processed the pulp in her lab into things like bright orange bio-plastic, dye and edible fabric. By making use of the carrot pulp, she not only uses residual material, but this also renders other resources for creating the same products unnecessary. Win-win!
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For two years now Agri meets Design has collaborated with this course and young designers have been focusing on food and agricultural issues relevant in the Netherlands. This has led to the following results! >
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Anna Diljá Siguroardóttir & Sorrel Madley • A Future for Fish • Question: Is it possible to replicate the essence of fish and the fisheating experience without using fish as a resource? According to Anna and Sorrel, alternatives are needed to unburden the seas, which are affected by excessive fishing, rapidly declining biodiversity and acidification. That’s why they investigated four features of fish: texture, scent, nutritional value and aesthetics.
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Marie Caye, Arvid Jense & Vair • Pigstrument • Question: Are pigs interested in sound and even music, and can this contribute to their well-being and our interest in them as creatures? Life on earth develops based on senses. The Pigstrument is an instrument with associated music made with sounds like the grunt of a sow and the snoring and rummage of piglets. The designers soon noticed that the pig actively participates in the recordings.
Mathilde Nakken • Holy Cow Communicators • Question: Can we restore the horns of a cow and use them to record information about their brain activity?
Mathilde Nakken • The Circular Hay Bale Economy • Question: Can farmers work together in a smarter way for the production of hay bales?
The horns of a cow matter: they store minerals, help regulate body temperature and when used in fights, the social hierarchy is based on their size. However, they aren’t useful in milk production. Holy Cow Communicators are jewels to stimulate the preservation of cow’s horns. Meanwhile they are used to explore the possibility of capturing information about the cow with brain activity measurements (EEG).
It is common practice for every farmer to purchase their own expensive machinery to produce hay bales. Mathilde decided to investigate the process behind the hay stacks by the side of the road, and proposed an alternative: the hay bale service.
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ATTENTION Are you a farmer, artist, horticulturist, policy maker, processor, designer, fisherman, politician, dreamer, businessman and enthusiastic about Agri meets Design? Do you have a persistent food-related issue that deserves our attention? Mail us and maybe we’ll soon found a FARM:LAB together! Contact our programme manager Judith Zengers via judithzengers@agrimeetsdesign.com. Stay up-to-date with the latest news on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @agrimeetsdesign Photo (left to right): Martijn Paulen (Dutch Design Foundation), Elies Lemkes-Straver (ZLTO), Anne - Marie Spierings (Province Noord-Brabant), Aldrik Gierveld (Ministry of Agriculture, Nature & Food Quality).
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Our network
Special thanks goes out to all the farmers, designers, artists and other participants in Agri meets Design many thanks for their time and effort! Without them Agri meets Design would not be possible. In addition, we are thankful to the broad spectrum of partners from financiers to initiators and other enthusiasts for their unique contribution. Below a snapshot from the collaborative parties doing this together!
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Colofon
Agri meets Design Magazine Single Edition March 2018 Cover image: Ester Grass Vergara Contact info@agrimeetsdesign.com www.agrimeetsdesign.com Concept and final editing magazine: Food Cabinet Editors Lotte Sluiter Helen Kranstauber Felicia Alberding Janno Lanjouw Judith Zengers Design Wunderwald, Baukje Stamm & Manouk van der Kooij Photography Maartje Strijbis Elisabeth Lanz Barbara Medo Diewke van de Heuvel Jeroen van der Wielen Heidi de Gier Ivo van der Bent Bart van Baardwijk Ester Grass Vergara Liset van der Laan Partners Agri meets Design is a project by ZLTO, Ministry of Agriculture, Nature & Food Quality and Province Noord-Brabant.