Conference Presentation at Profiting from Sustainability in York (UK) Dec 2014

1. Skylark
Sustainable Agriculture on a Dutch
Farm
Twitter: @veldleeuwerik
@jrdejongodoorn

2. Jan Reinier de Jong
Arable farm in Odoorn
100+ hectare
Seed potatoes
Starch potatoes
Barley
Sugerbeets
Solar

3. History
1920
Mixed farm
Crop farm
Take over 2006
5th Generation....

4. • Participation Skylark
– Participation from in 2010
– From 2000 participant in several projects about innovation, soil and
environment
– Motivation: Sustainable farming is important for our future.
Participation in Skylark enables me to shape sustainability at my farm
in my own way together with colleagues

5. Skylark Foundation
Cooperation between farmers, buyers and
processors.
Sustainable Agriculture
Sustainability is about making connections
Producer, A consumer and Wonderfull society
Challenge

6. Initiative Heineken International - 2002
• Ten farmers
– Development of a Bottum Up approach
– Learning from each other about sustainability, not checking off
requests of standards
– Hiring of academic expertise
– Friends in rotation
• Heineken Barley
• Suiker Unie Beet
• Unilever Carrots
• McCain Potatoes
• Van Liere Onions

7. Our objectives
• Promoting the sustainable production of agricultural products.
• Facilitate the establishment of sustainable supply chains.
• Restoring the social context between producer and consumer.

8. Our mission:
• The Skylark system to be THE system for sustainable
agriculture in the Netherlands.

9. Ten
Farmers
Fifty
farmers
Flevoland Flevoland Nederland
2003- 2005 2006 - 2010 2011 - 2014
development application upscaling
Project Veldleeuwerik Stichting Veldleeuwerik
Over 400
Farmers

11. Facilitate the establishment of sustainable
supply chains.
Collaboration: Primary sector, processors and retail
Some examples

13. Farmers have key role
Continuous improvement on farm level
Involves whole crop rotation
Ten indicators for improvement
Sustainability plan
Region groupes
Industry supports
Transparency in the supply chains
Same approach for all crops
[ Friends in Rotation ]
Instruments and tools for farmers
Consultants sustainable arable
farming
Experts and workshops
Skylark method: Key elements

14. Skylark
method:
Vision
An individual grower with an own sustainability plan.
Created with the help of a sustainability consultant.
RC
Regional group with 10 to 12 growers under supervision
of an academic expert. Every grower has his/her own
sustainability plan.
Consul
tant
Grower
with SP
Plan
Action
Effect

15. The regiongroup
Meets 8 times a year
• Fixed day
The farmer discusses his sustainability plan with the group
• Sharing knowledge and experiences
Exploring new knowledge (demand driven by the group)
• Skylark partners contribute their knowledge
Process management by region coordinator
• Being open, honoust and critical to each other

16. More than 1000 actions every year
Indicators No of actions For instance
Soil fertility 400
Crop rotation widen to 1 in 6 years potatoes with more onions
Apply solid manure
Soil loss 17
No tillage
Applying pulp for mulching
Product value 196
Partnership with dairy farmer
Growing new crops
Nutrients 177
Supply phosphate into the row
Sowing green manure
Crop protection 172
GPS based techniques
Phytobac
Water 66
Collect rainwater for spraying chemicals
Between drainage
Energy 142
Installation of solar panels
Energy registration in warehouse
Biodiversity 51
Gaining knowledge about plant protection effect on soillife
Natural field margins
Human capital 52
Partnership with potential successor
Training permanent workers
Local economy 14
Expand home sales
Receiving students at the farm

17. INDICATOR -- ACTION 1
Compost
Tillage

18. INDICATOR -- ACTION 2
Solar panels
Battery

19. INDICATOR -- ACTION 3
GPS
Optrx - sensor

20. Shared knowledge leads to shared inspiration
Together towards a sustainable healthy future
Thanks for your attention
sustainable business