How to ensure your farming business keeps pace with a changing climate

Each area needs its own solution

Wageningen University & Research has field labs all over the Netherlands studying how best to deal with climate change. These 'Farms of the Future' are looking for solutions, such as lighter machinery in the fields or testing varieties that are more resistant to extreme weather conditions. "Climate change is causing a shift in temperature and changing rainfall patterns, which are having an impact on the future of farmers," says Emma Knol, research associate climate & business. "Every region struggles with different effects. Farmers growing on sandy soils are more likely to be negatively impacted by drought. Sandy soil does not hold water well due to the coarse structure of the sand. On the other hand, farmers who grow on clay soil tend to have more problems when there is too much water."

Salty Zeeland

In Zeeland, farmers face soil siltation. For many years, this coastal province was famous for growing onions. But in just five years, the number of fields growing onions has almost halved - partly because of siltation. Summers are becoming drier, causing salt water to penetrate more inland. It gets more 'space' because fresh water is used for drinking water, industry or agriculture, or evaporates. Salt water rises as seepage and reaches ground and surface water, reducing soil fertility. Onion cultivation is now shifting eastwards. Meanwhile, Wageningen researchers are working on a solution.

Trial farms in the Peel

In eastern and southern Netherlands, the situation is very different. Here, farmers are dealing with drought-prone sandy soils. Farmers and researchers there are experimenting with crops which are less sensitive to drought, such as the grain species sorghum.

The 'Farm of the Future Zuidoostelijk Zand' works in East and Central Brabant and North and Central Limburg: an intensive agricultural area with lots of livestock and intensive land use. "In our region, there is a close link between plant and animal production," says farm manager Marc Kroonen. "Livestock farms like to buy (residual) products from arable farmers. That might include forage crops, potatoes, sugar beet, cereals, vegetable crops, carrots, maize."

In this area, the main challenge is to maintain good soil quality and sufficient water availability. Farms are built on sandy soils, which hold little water and few nutrients. If you cannot irrigate your field during dry spells, the harvest will be lost. "Different parties compete for fresh water. Water is not only used as drinking water, it is also important for industry, nature and agriculture," Kroonen explains. "We are carrying out trials involving crops and cultivation systems to find out whether they produce enough with less water so that farmers can earn a living from them. We do customised irrigation and use level-controlled drainage for proper infiltration and drainage of rainwater during wet periods: a system that allows you to gauge the groundwater and thus choose to retain more or less water. This also allows you to infiltrate water better and retain it longer for dry periods."

'Farm of the Future Zuidoostelijk Zand' is also working on healthy soil, as this too can help retain more water. It is important to choose your crops so that they do not deplete the soil. For example, Kroonen is thinking of working with 6 crops that change every year: potatoes, winter cereal, grass clover, a vegetable crop, sugar beet and maize combined with green manures. "The system supplies vegetables, potatoes (chips!) and sugar as food for people. Barley, grass clover and maize serve as fodder. Residual potato and sugar beet streams can be used by dairy farming and pig farming as fodder."

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Desiccating Veenkoloniën

Sufficient water is also a major challenge in the Veenkoloniën peat district. This district lies in eastern Groningen and Drenthe. Farmers in this area grow crops that are the basis for a finished product, such as beets for making sugar.

Brenda Timmerman, project leader of Farm of the Future in Valthermond, introduces you to the area: "Farms are on peat subsoil. This is a sandy soil released when a layer of peat has been excavated, mixed with the top layer of peat. The land consists of higher dry sandy tops and lower wetter areas. The height difference within the elongated plots is constantly increasing due to peat oxidation: the peat that is exposed to the outside air slowlybreaks down. Eventually the land subsides. This process accelerates in warm weather. Wet areas become wetter and dry areas even drier."

Water supply is difficult, but you can retain water. For that, you can use a low-lying area of the farm as a buffer. During periods of heavy rainfall, you can control the height of the water level in the ditch via a dam and drain the water into the buffer. Timmerman: "We are studying how to get the water to the dry parts. And we are investigating how we can still use such a wet piece of land. One possibility is cultivating cattail. You can use this crop as a biobased building material: so natural materials. Farmers often don't do anything with that now because they still have too many questions about marketing products and what it yields."

In the Veenkoloniën, researchers are working on a healthy farming system with good earning potential, maintaining healthy soil and finding a way to make cultivation more resilient. Farm manager Gerard Hoekzema: "For example, in the potatoes - beets - cereals rotation, we are looking at an additional crop, which will also allow us to use green manures within these rotations." Timmerman adds: "Green manure crops provide higher organic matter content, and therefore healthier soil. Traditionally, farmers often work with three crops. We are studying how a fourth crop affects income."

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Clay particles break up

On to the last stop: Flevoland. Whereas farmers who grow crops on sandy soils struggle to supply water, too much water is a problem for farmers growing on clay soil, such as in Flevoland. Clay soil cannot absorb rainwater quickly enough during heavy showers. The upper clay particles break up, and the top layer is sealed with smaller soil particles. "Climate change is expected to keep soils wet longer in autumn and winter," says Derk van Balen, research associate management systems and soil. "If farmers drive over this with heavy machinery, there is a chance of soil compaction. Plants then root less deeply. In dry summers, this is very detrimental."

According to Van Balen, you don't solve soil compaction just by increasing the contact area of the tyres. In that case, fewer tracks may remain on the land, but heavy machinery still compacts the soil at greater depths. "However, it can help to drill holes through highly compacted layers. You then ensure better drainage. But the technology is very expensive," he says. "You can also consider robotisation and lighter machines that can go out in the fields 24 hours a day. For example, there is a lot of interest in robotic tractors. Or you can look at crops with a short growing period that are suitable for harvesting earlier in the season." That does bring challenges, according to Van Balen, because you also have to deal with companies that process the products. "Early harvesting and temporary storage of sugar beet is beneficial for soil quality, but often unfavourable for sugar beet quality."

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Next generation

"Our goal is to pass on the soil to the next generation in the same condition that we got it from the previous generation," adds Gerard Hoekzema. According to him, precision farming, especially in the Veenkoloniën, will take off. "Peat subsoils, for example, consist of sand and peat in different compositions with different organic matter contents. The diversity in soil types causes a variety of problems: an area-based approach is needed."