Hannah King-Guffey

Microeconomics

How does the U.S. food and fiber industry operate compared to how the

Netherlands operates its?

The United States is number one in food exports. But the Netherlands... comes in second.

With 270 times the Netherland’s landmass and 307 million more people , the United States can

hardly compare to the Netherlands and its success in the agriculture business. Is it something

the United States is doing wrong, or something the Netherlands is getting right? While both are

correct answers, the Netherlands resembles no other major food producer. The Netherland

agriculture businesses are not just producing the second greatest amount of food, but the way

they are producing it and who is producing it is what has made it so successful.

For starters, the Netherlands possess the world’s top agriculture research institution,

Wageningen University & Research . Compared to Silicon Valley (the global center for high

technology, venture capital, innovation, and social media), Wageningen University & Research

is the global capital of agricultural technology start-ups and experimental farms . Because of

this school’s success it means the Netherlands is also producing some of the world’s best

agriculture experts.

In the Netherlands , people that create sustainable agriculture are not big corporations

but thousands of modest family farms . The people who have studied and worked in the

Netherland’s agriculture field have learned to prioritize agriculture research and discovered

the best ways to produce their agricultural products . This is what helps them get the best
result. While the world is growing substantially, the need for food is as well . The

Netherlanders are trying to prevent starvation and prepare for the expected 10 billion people

to walk this earth in 2050 . The Netherlands has made more than half of the nation’s land area

used for agriculture and horticulture.

There are many issues around food security that has become a major issue as natural

disasters and climate change have damaged older systems in many countries. In the Netherlands,

this concern has pushed farmers to move towards more sustainable production systems that are a

mix of technical innovation and old-fashioned farming methods. The technology and methods

they have for agriculture is better than most countries.

The United States has 307 million more people and is 3.6 million square miles larger

which means the accessibility to having more and greater agriculture producers should be

substantially greater than the Netherlands . So why is the United States not following in the

Netherlands footsteps? In the Unites States today just a handful of large corporations dealing

with the production of seeds , meat, and milk, and grocery retailers dominate aspects of the

food system such as controlling what consumers eat , how much they pay for groceries and

what prices farmers receive for their crops and livestock . This is much different from the

Netherlands, where there are a large number of smaller farms that contribute to the production

of produce instead of just a few large firms .

An oligopoly in the food industry has been created in the United States which does

have its benefits such as increasing the speed and amount of production . Along with this

grand achievement comes a few problems. This includes contributing to the increase in the
pool of antibiotic-resistant bacteria because of the overuse of antibiotics , air quality problems,

the contamination of rivers, streams, and coastal waters with concentrated animal waste ,

animal welfare problems, and significant shifts in the social stature and economy of many

farming regions throughout the country. It also causes people to upset about the mistreatment

of animals, the amount of small businesses being pushed out, and food mishaps to be much

greater.

In the United States, there are fewer larger companies compared to many smaller

companies. And although that has created a more desireable price for the consumer it harms

famers. A farmer today in the United States has fewer options of who to sell their produce to

and if those few large companies all offer a deal with much higher prices that farmer will

suffer greatly. This is one of the huge differences between the United States and the

Netherlands. The Netherlanders also have a much greater strength on environmentally

friendly and animal friendly ways of production. And while American agriculture companies

are producing more they are also damaging the earth much more.

The Netherlands food production industry has succeeded in many ways greater than

the United States has , and companies in the United States have unfortunately ignored many of

the Netherlands favorable outcomes. Because the Netherlands is smaller they have an

advantage of growing smaller businesses. They have the advantage of growing large amounts

of produce because they have more farm lands and they have advanced in agriculture

technology. They have many disadvantages compared to the United States, whom are number

one, but they have been able to overcome most of their challenges and become one of the best

food producers in the world .