Agriculture and nature. A matter for government, the food production chain and farmers Geert de Snoo & Dick Melman The relationship between agriculture and nature represents a triple challenge.... Show moreAgriculture and nature. A matter for government, the food production chain and farmers Geert de Snoo & Dick Melman The relationship between agriculture and nature represents a triple challenge. Care for nature on the farm itself, in the vicinity of the farm and within the global context. If we consider the existing initiatives to make agriculture more sustainable, it appears that for decades we have been trying to take steps in this economic domain, however, the benefits for nature, the environment, and landscape have been very limited. Farmers are wrongly designated as primarily responsible for this. The steering power and strength of the food chain itself - food industry and supermarket formulas et cetera - is hardly used for nature and landscape. We argue that governments should strengthen their management and enforcement role and that the chain should also allow nature and landscape qualities to play a structural role in its business strategy. Finally, farmers also have a role to play in this, but they do not hold the key to the solutions. In order to achieve a balanced field of forces, we propose to set up an organization a la SER (Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands), in order to achieve a shared view and agreements on how food production should take shape. Show less
