WAGENINGENWORLD MAGAZINE of WAGENINGEN UR ABOUT CONTRIBUTING to the QUALITY of LIFE No.2 2016

WAGENINGENWORLD MAGAZINE OF WAGENINGEN UR ABOUT CONTRIBUTING TO THE QUALITY OF LIFE no.2 2016

‘Where all that plastic goes to is a great mystery’ Jan Andries van Franeker, page 10

Exotic species: problematic? | Getting wise to big data | Sustainable choices by consumers Taming viruses | Agricultural education in Afghanistan | Outstanding alumnus Niels Louwaars CONTENTS

10 WHERE IS ALL OUR PLASTIC? We know more and more about how plastic waste gets into the environment. Yet we still don’t know where the bulk of it goes. ‘Just because you can’t see it, it doesn’t mean it’s gone.’

01000011 01101111 01101110 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 01000011 011101100100 01101111 0011 01101111 01101110 01101110 01110110 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 01000011 011101100100 01101111 0011 01101111 01101110 01101110 01110110 01000011 011101100100 01101111 0011 01101111 26 01101110 01101110 01110110 011101100100 0011 01101111 GETTING WISE TO BIG DATA 01101110 011101100100 New insights and knowledge are hidden inside the world’s 0011 01101111 01101110 011101100100 fast-growing mountain of digital data. To uncover them, 0011 01101111 01101110 we need computing power. ‘In ten years’ time, 80 percent of 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 research will be based on the analysis of datasets.’ 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 3401110110 UNDESIRABLE ALIENS There are more than 400 exotic species in the Netherlands, from old friends such as the muskrat to newcomers such as the western conifer seed bug. Steps are taken to control some species but not others. That decision is supported by research.

COLOPHON Wageningen World is the quarterly magazine for associates and alumni of Wageningen UR (University and Research centre) and members of KLV, the Wageningen Alumni Network. A PDF version of the magazine can be found at www.wageningenUR.nl/en/wageningen-world Publisher Wageningen UR, Marc Lamers Editorial Board Hans Bothe, Yvonne Fernhout, Ben Geerlings, Bert Jansen, Jeanette Leenders, Jac Niessen, Irene Salverda, Erik Toussaint, Delia de Vreeze Editor-in-chief Pauline Greuell (Corporate Communications Wageningen UR) and Edwin van Laar (Editor-in-chief Resource, Wageningen UR) Magazine editor Miranda Bettonville Copy editor Rik Nijland Alumni news Yvonne de Hilster Translators Clare McGregor, Clare Wilkinson Art direction and design gloedcommunicatie, Nijmegen Cover picture Alamy Overall design Hemels Publishers Printer Tuijtel Hardinxveld-Giessendam ISSN 2210-9928 Address Wageningen Campus, Droevendaalsesteeg 4, 6708 PB Wageningen, PO Box 409, 6700 HB, Wageningen, telephone +31 317 48 40 20, [email protected] Change of address alumni [email protected] Change of address associates [email protected], mentioning code on adress label Change of career details [email protected]

The mission of Wageningen UR (University & Research centre) is ‘to explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life’. Wageningen UR includes nine specialist applied research institutes and Wageningen University. These institutions have joined forces to contribute to finding answers to crucial questions related to healthy food and a sustainable living environment. Wageningen UR has a staff of 6,500, 10,000 students, 35,000 alumni and 40 sites, with a turnover of 662 million euros. Institutes of Wageningen UR: Alterra, LEI, Plant Research International, Applied Plant Research, Wageningen UR Livestock Research, Central Veterinary Institute, Wageningen UR Food & Biobased Research, IMARES and RIKILT.

2 WAGENINGENWORLD EDITORIAL

4 UPDATE PHOTO GUY ACKERMANS News in brief about research and developments at Wageningen UR

16 SUSTAINABLE CHOICES In spite of good intentions, the Dutch don’t tend to Holistic food policy choose sustainable products in the supermarket. ‘To be properly prepared for the many challenges ahead ‘You go to the supermarket to do your shopping, related to sustainable food, the Netherlands needs to make not to save the world. Negative logos could help.’ a transition from agricultural policy to food policy. That requires a systems approach with attention to the entire value 20 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN AFGHANISTAN chain from production to the consumer, as well as to biodi- In five years and with support from Wageningen, versity, climate, animal welfare, food safety, health, pover- a college of agriculture has been established in ty, trade, identity and participation. This holistic approach Kabul, Afghanistan. ‘Good training has a lasting sounds appealing but it still has to be translated into a new impact on agriculture.’ form of governance. At the moment policy is dispersed over several different ministries. And an integral food 24 TAMING VIRUSES policy is impossible without regional government bodies, Viruses are cunning pathogens, but virologists are civil society organizations, ordinary citizens and companies. now using smart tricks to make viruses do their A lot of thought is being given to innovative ways of devel- bidding. To produce vaccines for example. oping food policy, both within and outside the EU. Several Dutch political parties argue for a ministry of Food. 44 OUTSTANDING ALUMNUS AWARD Personally, however, I don’t think a new ministry is the Niels Louwaars received the Outstanding Alumnus best approach to arriving at an integral food policy. Award from University Fund Wageningen. He is a Departmental reorganization always leads to political role model for professionals and researchers in the wrangling or a preoccupation with internal ‘nonsense’ in seed sector. ‘New methods are subject to close the civil service. Each reorganization cuts through existing political scrutiny.’ linkages again. And there is a risk that in a large new ministry sustainability issues will get snowed under because of a lack of checks and balances. FEATURES So it would be sensible to explore other options too. Such as appointing a programme minister for food, without a ministry. Such a minister would approach negotiations in 40 LIFE AFTER WAGENINGEN Brussels differently to a minister who is primarily defending Both alumni did the Applied Communication the interests of the agriculture sector. Experience suggests, Science Master’s, still new back in 2004. Now however, that in government circles in the Hague such Mirjam Wagteveld manages the communication for ministers don’t achieve much. a major nature project at WNF. Kirsten van Gorkum So I think it’s an illusion to think you can design a simple helps gas and electricity network operator Enexis governance model for holistic food policy. I would prefer formulate strategies for the future. to see a network organization – a kind of governance bypass that works around the ministries – such as the one 46 ALUMNI set up to run the Delta programme. That kind of network News for alumni of Wageningen University organization has to bring together the ambitions and visions of various stakeholders working on food, make 48 PERSONALIA discussion of conflicts about values possible, stimulate Information about the lives and fortunes of alumni innovative collaboration and develop long-term strategies. of Wageningen University. To do that it needs a firm political, legal and financial insti- tutional base. Otherwise it will be all words and no action.’ 50 KLV Announcements from the KLV Wageningen Alumni Katrien Termeer, professor of Public Administration and Policy Network

WAGENINGENWORLD 3 ECOLOGY FOOD WASTE Large bees shrink The females of large bee species in the Tasty cake from Netherlands have shrunk over the past century. Between 1900 and 2010, the females of large bees such as the buff- unsold bread tailed bumblebee became 6.5 percent smaller, the females of smaller species Unsold bread returned to the factory from the supermarket can be used 0.5 percent. The males are not shrinking. to make new products such as typical Dutch ‘breakfast cake’ or cookies. These are the findings of ecologists David Kleijn and Jeroen Scheper This was discovered in an innovation replaces the sugar in the original recipe. together with two Brazilian colleagues. project involving Wageningen UR Food & The cookies and breakfast cake made of The findings are based on measure- Biobased Research, the European Bakery unsold bread are a hit with consumers, and ments of 18 species in the collections Innovation Centre and a Dutch sustainable the fact that they are made with leftover at Naturalis in Leiden. food alliance, the Alliantie Verduurzaming bread adds to the appeal of the product. The ecologists do not yet have an expla- Voedsel. Every year, tens of millions of stale The study is part of a multi-annual public- nation for the species- and sex-specific loaves are recycled in the Netherlands and private collaboration aiming at reducing shrinkage. One possibility is the re- used for cheaper products such as bread- food waste through awareness-raising, duced availability of food. Females have crumbs and animal feed. collaboration and innovation in the sup- the biggest need for nectar and pollen In the interests of sustainability it is a ply chain. For example, a survey should because they also have to provide for good idea to prevent bread being left over provide insight into the role of packaging their numerous offspring. ‘Needing less and to develop more lucrative uses for in waste: do consumers at home deal with food is an advantage in that case,’ says unsold bread. After research on recipes, products differently depending whether Kleijn. Genetic studies can determine production processes, microbiological they are tinned, frozen or fresh? There whether the shrinkage really is an evolu- safety and quality control issues, it appears is also a trial going on in which dairy tionary answer to less food being avail- that stale bread is a useful ingredient for companies and supermarkets are able. The study came out in PLOS ONE Dutch ‘breakfast cake’ and cookies. For the researching what order unit size would in February. Info: [email protected] breakfast cake, the bread can be added best match demand and stock turnover directly to the dough. For cookies, the in the shop. bread is first turned into syrup which then Info: [email protected]

IMPORT AND EXPORT Collaboration for food safety in Iran

RIKILT Wageningen UR is going to help Iran with research on and better monitoring of food safety. A declara- tion of intent was signed in January with the Shahid Beheshti University in Teheran. With the lifting of most of the UN and EU sanctions, Iran wants to start exporting products such as pistachio nuts and saffron again. But the products must meet European and other standards.

Info: [email protected] PHOTO SHUTTERSTOCK

4 WAGENINGENWORLD UPDATE

AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS EDUCATION Best university for agriculture and forestry

In the QS World University Ranking 2016, Wageningen University is ranked for the first time as the world’s best university in the field of agriculture and forestry, above the University of California (US) and Cornell University (US). For environmental sciences Wageningen has risen to fourth place. The QS Ranking by Subject is based on citations, academic reputation and the reputation of graduates among employers.

PHOTO DREAMSTIME Info: [email protected] Brexit bad for British farmers Should the United Kingdom decide to determines the market and incomes of leave the European Union, it will be largely British farmers. Two thirds of the current detrimental to British farmers, according income of British farmers consists of to a study by agricultural economics income support. WAGENINGEN ACADEMY institute LEI Wageningen UR done at the The combination of total liberalization behest of the British farmers’ union NFU. and the loss of income support would have International plant- The LEI worked out scenarios in which the worst impact. British livestock farming breeding course Britain makes an agricultural trade agree- would suffer particularly badly. ment with the EU after a Brexit or com- The British will be voting in a referendum The international plant-breeding sector pletely liberalizes its agricultural policy. on 23 June on whether they want to stay is facing the challenge of securing an Currently it is largely the European in the EU. adequate supply of academically trained Common Agricultural Policy which Info: [email protected] plant breeders for the coming decade. There are not enough graduates with a BIOBASED specialization in plant breeding to meet the demands of the employers in the Sustainable roofing under production seed business, which welcomes high potentials with a degree in life scienc- Roofing is commonly made of bitumen or es. There is a big demand in the sector PVC sourced from petroleum. Wageningen for additional academic training. UR Food and Biobased Research is work- Wageningen Academy offers a highly ing on a completely biobased, environmen- recommended course for professional tally friendly alternative. The sustainable plant breeders worldwide, starting roofing based on biomass has to be able to October 2016. This course offers exten- compete with existing products in terms sive theoretical background on plant of quality and cost. The biggest technical breeding, new technological develop- obstacle is that polymers from plants and ments and their application in plant-based building blocks are less water- breeding programmes. proof. ‘We hope to solve that problem with this study,’ explains researcher Richard More information on www.wageningen- Gosselink. academy.nl/plantbreedingcourse

Info: [email protected] PHOTO SHUTTERSTOCK

WAGENINGENWORLD 5 ECOLOGY LIVESTOCK Feathers reveal where bird has been A couple of breast feathers are all you need to see where a northern fulmar has been to outside the brooding season. In the seabirds’ food there are carbon and nitrogen compounds in atomic struc- tures – isotopes – which vary regionally. The isotopes get into growing feathers, just as drug residues get into people’s hair and nails. Researchers at IMARES Wageningen UR discovered that the birds’ breast and belly feathers moult in winter. Lab analysis of a few breast feathers produced the same results for northern fulmars as were obtained with transmitters attached to the birds. Info: [email protected] PHOTO ANP Most cows can be put

PHOTO ISTOCK out to pasture

FISHERIES Cows in the Netherlands spend less and less time out of doors. And yet 94 percent of the dairy farms could let their cows out for a while, shows 2015 a good year for a study by Wageningen UR.

Dutch fisheries Cows in the meadow are an iconic feature sector and for sales of dairy produce. 2015 was a good year for the fisheries of the Dutch landscape, but they are be- In the context of the research programme sector in the Netherlands, both finan- coming an increasingly rare sight. In 2001, Grass and Pasturing, Wageningen UR cially and in terms of environmental 90 percent of the dairy cows were out in studied the feasibility of pasturing now impact. This conclusion was drawn by the fields on a regular basis; in 2013 this and in future, both technically and from agricultural economics institute LEI had gone down to 70 percent, while the the business angle. It transpired that Wageningen UR from the statistics on number of dairy cows and calves remained pasturing is possible on 94 percent of the the sector. The net profit from kotter around 1.5 million. The reasons for less farms. Pasturing is defined here as the fisheries has been going up since 2011 pasturing are automatic milking, upscaling intake of at least one kilo of meadow grass thanks to a combination of falling costs and an emphasis on maximum efficiency. per day for all the cows. Another definition, and increasing revenues. Emissions of Unless action is taken, the number of cows used for example in the ‘Pasturing Pledge’

CO2 per boat and per kilo of fish have being turned out to graze is expected to introduced in the Netherlands, refers to been steadily dropping and are now drop further. a minimum of six hours a day, 120 days a 40 and 60 percent lower, respectively, In consultation with the sector, civil society year of outdoor grazing. By this definition than the peak levels of about 15 years organizations and provinces, an approach about 85 percent of the farms have enough ago. This is mainly due to lower fuel is being worked out to encourage the dairy grass for all their cows. Financially speak- consumption, the decline of the Dutch sector to be more field-based in future. ing, pasturing is potentially attractive for kotter fleet, smaller engines, innova- Cows can be pastured and the cycle of feed an estimated 71 percent of dairy farmers tions in fishing equipment and boats, and manure kept as closed as possible on because they have no more than four cows and changes in behaviour. the farm. Grazing cows are important too per hectare. Info: [email protected] for public support for the Dutch dairy Info: [email protected]

6 WAGENINGENWORLD UPDATE

AGROTECHNOLOGY MARINE ECOLOGY Robot helps collect eggs Poultry farmers might soon be able to the barn by itself. The prototype uses the leave egg collection to a robot. Laying same technology as a driverless car. hens, nowadays free to roam around the It uses camera images to locate the eggs. barn, usually lay their eggs in a nest. A few An egg-collecting robot could save a eggs – 0.5 percent – end up somewhere in poultry farmer thousands of euros a year. the straw, however, and the poultry farmer A further advantage is that the robot can would like to sell those too. But collecting be fitted with equipment for measuring these eggs by hand is time-consuming and the climate in the barn or monitoring the hard work. So Wageningen researchers birds’ health status. As for the chickens, have developed an autonomous egg col they quickly get used to their new compan- lector that manoeuvres its way around ion. Info: [email protected] PH OTO REEFOLUTION Restoring the Kenyan coral reef Students and researchers from Wageningen University are working on coral reef restoration off the coast of

PHOTO KOOS GROENEWOLD Kenya. Their work includes exploring the possibilities for cultivating coral KNOWLEDGE-INTENSIVE COMPANIES and studying the role of fish. ‘Fish are essential for the maintenance of the Incubator opens on Wageningen Campus coral,’ explains marine ecologist Johan Osinga. Wageningen Campus is gradually tak- The activities are supported by the ing shape as a hive of varied activity. In REEFolution foundation set up by Erik December 2015 business centre and Stokman, who until recently had a rose incubator PlusUltra opened its doors to farm in Kenya. Stokman was a regular startups and knowledge-intensive techno- diver off the Kenyan coast at the fish- logical companies in the agro, food and ing village of Shimoni. He saw coral living environment sectors. Among the reef there that was damaged by illegal companies moving in are dairy company fishing with dynamite and by anchors. CSK Food Enrichment, nutritional ingre- Little is being done about reef restora- dient developer NutriLeaks, the Chinese tion and management. REEFolution dairy giant Yili, producer of driving simula- wants to tackle the issue together with tors Green Dino, and IPSS Engineering, the local people. This will be good for which develops processing machinery for the reef, for the fishers and for tourism.

chemicals. Info: www.wageningencampus.nl PHOTO SHUTTERSTOCK Info: [email protected]

WAGENINGENWORLD 7 EDUCATION INFORMATION SYSTEMS Digital revolution can support Africans

Eleven PhD researchers from Africa are going to look into how mobile phones and the internet can help Africa tackle plant diseases, water shortages and malaria.

In Ethiopia millions of small farmers grow diseases in Kenya, and sustainable ways of potatoes. But their yields are low, and this boosting food crop production in Ghana. is partly due to the diseases Phytophthora ‘These are all problems in which individuals

PHOTO HOLLANDSE HOOGTE and potato brown rot. Effective control are dependent on others around them and requires the various parties involved to which people can only tackle together,’ More forest for collaborate and learn from each other. For explains programme leader and professor this, information is needed about sources of Knowledge, Technology and Innovation students to learn in of infection and the development of infec- Cees Leeuwis. tion pressure, as well as about the crop The potential of the digital revolution in Forestry students at Wageningen and the weather. Mobile technology can Africa currently tends to be seen in terms University have been allocated a be used to collect new information and of its contribution to classic extension: new tract of forest to practice in. bring it together. But how do you persuade the top-down spreading of information. In February the national forest farmers to join in and convince them that ‘This project targets the generation of new service Staatsbosbeheer signed the system will work? The PhD researchers information and discussion of it by those an agreement with Wageningen will be tackling these kinds of questions in involved, so as to contribute to solving University and ‘green’ further and Wageningen University’s interdisciplinary problems,’ says Leeuwis. The PhD higher education institutions Van project Responsible life-sciences innovations for researchers will start by describing the Hall Larenstein and Helicon for the development in the digital age, a joint initiative situation. They are forming interdiscipli- Speulder and Sprielder forest on with international research organizations, nary teams and will look at both technical the Veluwe moorland near universities, service providers and NGOs. and social aspects of the issue. They will the village of Ermelo. Besides potato diseases in Ethiopia, the then join forces with those affected to see project will address better water manage- how information systems could help to In the forest the students can take part ment for agriculture in Ghana, malaria make technical and social innovations in educational field trips, practise for- control in Rwanda, the protection of a success. estry skills or do research. The students livestock and wildlife against tick-borne Info: [email protected] at Helicon do practical work, those at Van Hall Larenstein analyse collected data, and Wageningen students get the chance to test models related to forest management and ecology. All the trees in the ‘practice forest’ are numbered and measured, so the dynamics of the forest can easily be monitored. ‘The forest enables us to show students out in practice what we talk about in the classroom,’ says teacher Jan den Ouden. ‘What is more, we get to do experiments there into the effect of intervening in forest management. And the information we come up with can in turn be of use to Staatsbosbeheer.’ The ‘practice forest’ covers more than 2500 hectares.

Info: [email protected] PHOTO HOLLANDSE HOOGTE

8 WAGENINGENWORLD UPDATE

AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT PHOTO HOLLANDSE HOOGTE Manure pollutes Chinese rivers The effects of big changes in Besides runoff and draining of fertilizer higher. The government has taken Chinese agriculture since the from the soil, the direct dumping of steps but manure is still not being used nineteen eighties go beyond the animal manure plays a big role in this enough for improving soil fertility in massive increase in livestock pollution. In 1970, only 5 percent of agriculture and horticulture, wrote numbers. Chinese rivers have been the manure from farms was dumped in doctoral researcher Maryna Strokal of affected too, and are polluted with rivers. Thirty years later this figure had Wageningen University and her Chinese nitrate and phosphate. gone up to between 30 and 70 percent and Wageningen UR colleagues in and levels of nitrate and phosphate in Environmental Research Letters in February. the rivers were between 2 and 45 times Info: [email protected]

MARINE ECOLOGY FOOD AUTHENTICITY Sniffing out where chocolate comes from

Doctoral researcher Valentina Acierno of Wageningen UR discovered that chocolate gets a specific aroma profile from the variety of cocoa bean used and

PHOTO SHUTTERSTOCK the place it was produced. This aroma PHOTO ISTOCKPHOTO can be deciphered with a mass spec- Management plan for golden jellyfish trometer. Acierno and her colleagues published the results of an initial study On the Indonesian Raja Ampat islands there are three salt lakes full of golden of 90 kinds of dark chocolate in Food jellyfish. More and more tourists are visiting the lakes, but there are neither Research International in March. The conservation measures nor a management plan in place for them yet. Together study could be a first step towards a with the local authorities and the University of Papua, marine ecologist Lisa validated procedure for authenticity Becking of Wageningen University is going to draw up a monitoring programme control. Price differences based on and a management plan for this vulnerable ecosystem, thanks to an innovation cocoa bean variety or origin can make grant of 10,000 euros from the WNF-INNO fund. fraud with chocolate tempting. Info: [email protected] [email protected]

WAGENINGENWORLD 9 Where is all our plastic? Whales and fulmars have plastic in their stomachs and even earthworms ingest plastic particles. Researchers know more and more about how our plastic waste gets into the environment and its effects on nature. Yet we still don’t know where the bulk of it goes.

TEXT ARNO VAN ’T HOOG PHOTO DREAMSTIME INFOGRAPHIC JORRIS VERBOON ENVIRONMENT lastic garbage gets everywhere, from tropical beaches to the polar seas, ‘Just because you don’t see Pand varies from loose fishing nets that strangle marine animals to plastic fragments in the stomachs of whales. Marine biologist the plastic anymore, it Jan Andries van Franeker of IMARES Wageningen UR has been doing research on doesn’t mean it’s gone’ plastic in northern fulmars for 30 years. ‘Almost all the fulmars we study have plastic in their stomachs. In a few cases the quantity is such that it was obviously the cause of death, from constipation for instance. I am worried about other possible effects of plastic to better regulation and agreements in the collate all the data, they arrive at a total of on the remaining fulmars. On their physical plastic industry, took place within the space 250 million kilos of plastic floating on or condition, for instance, as we know they of a few years. This shows that there is a just under the surface of the world’s oceans. cannot eat as well if their stomachs are full.’ steady influx of new plastic waste in the sea, In short, then, scientists ‘see’ no more than Fulmars are present in large numbers and says Van Franeker. ‘If the influx of certain a small percentage of the total amount of can do something that is not feasible for types of waste decreases, that is reflected in plastic that end up in the sea. The rest has scientists: take continuous samples of the the composition of the plastic particles in disappeared. Perhaps some of it washes up surface seawater in the northern hemi- the sea. That is how we know that if we take on shorelines; perhaps it sinks to the seabed. sphere. Except during the brooding season, radical steps from today to stop plastic get- But what is currently found on beaches or tens of millions of fulmars live continuously ting into the sea, it will have disappeared seen by divers on the seabed cannot account on the open sea, swallowing bits of plastic from the North Sea in 20 years’ time,’ says for the missing billions of kilos of plastic. which they mistake for food. Van Franeker. ‘But where it then ends up This has partly to do with the enormous When the birds die and wash up on the remains a big mystery.’ depth and breadth of the oceans, of course. shore, whatever the reason, researchers can The plastic waste is steadily replaced in the Research ships can only take reliable sam- learn a lot about the pollution in a marine Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans too. ples from the top layer of water. What is zone from the contents of their stomachs. So There, far from the continents, circular cur- more, the nets they use to fish for plastic they saw the increase in the amount of plas- rents cause the formation of plastic islands. have a mesh size of 0.3 millimetres, so tic we use reflected in a huge increase in the These islands cover a surface as big as smaller plastic particles are not captured, amount of plastic in bird stomachs around France, although their mass is less compact and no one knows what is floating around the North Sea, from an average of two pieces than the word ‘island’ might suggest. They in the dark depths of the sea. in the 1970s to ten in the 1980s. The birds generally contain less than ten small plastic found along European mainland coasts carry particles per cubic metre of water, which CARRIER BAG more plastic than those found on sparsely comes to a few kilos of plastic per square It is not easy for scientists to keep track of populated Spitsbergen beaches. Bird stom- kilometre of sea surface. plastics in the environment because they ach examinations reveal shifts too: 30 years Van Franeker explains that increasingly deteriorate and falls apart. If you hang a ago a large proportion of the plastic took the detailed calculations have been made in plastic carrier bag on a clothesline in the sea form of pellets used to make all sorts of recent years of how much plastic ends up for a year and then dry and weigh it, you will packaging and utensils. This proportion has in the sea through badly organized waste find that the material has got lighter and gone down by three quarters, whereas the disposal and litter. In countries such as smaller. The additives in it, such as solvents proportion of consumer plastics has gone Nigeria and China, this adds up to many and colouring agents, have leached into the up. What floats in the sea now is mainly large millions of kilos. But there are many other seawater. or small fragments of plastic bags, bottles, sources too, such as wear and tear on car The plastic itself deteriorates too. Sunlight bottle tops and other packaging waste. tyres, plastics in cosmetics and litter (see damages the polymer chains, rendering the box). Researchers estimate the total amount material brittle. As the water wears them STEADY INFLUX of plastic landing in the sea worldwide at down, bags, bottles and bottle tops disinte- The reduction in quantities of industrial about eight billion kilos each year. But only grate into ever smaller fragments and plastic pellets on the ocean surface, thanks a fraction of this is visible: when scientists specks. Creatures such as fulmars mistake >

12 WAGENINGENWORLD ENVIRONMENT Worldwide, billion kilos of plastic end up in the environment 250 million kilos are found in the sea Bottles, bottle tops and plastic bags sink to the seabed Hard to trace due to the depth of the oceans

PLASTIC POLLUTION Wear and tear to tyres and road markings Of the billion kilos of plastic that end up in the environment worldwide, most of it ends up in the sea, brought there by wind, sewers and waterways. But only a fraction of it 250 million kilos ever gets located. It is hard to find out where the rest goes as the oceans are deep and the plastic Microplastics Washing decays and disintegrates. osses in transport and processing of from synthetic plastic materials cosmetics clothing

Sloppy waste disposal and litter

Paint from ships

The polymers are damaged by sunlight and the Bits of plastic are plastic disintegrates eaten by birds, into large and small fish and worms pieces

Algae probably grow on the plastic, Solvents, colourants making it sink to and ﬁre retardants greater depths leak out of the plastic into the sea.

< 5 mm The plastic disintegrates into microplastics (5 mm - 5 μm) and nanoplastics Microplastics (invisible to the naked eye) disappear within a few decades, but where it gets to is unknown

WAGENINGENWORLD 13 this plastic for food and it gets ground down binding to plastic, that substance must in their stomachs to even tinier sand-like already be in the water and in the algae and particles. other small creatures too. So an organism is This is known as ‘microplastic’. It measures already coming into contact with PCBs any- between five millimetres and five micro way through water and food, and the effect metres (the thickness of a human hair) and is cumulative. You can use model calcula- it appears everywhere. It is coming in for tions to show that the contribution of plastic plenty of attention because of its small size: remains negligible in comparison with the tiny plastic particles can easily come loose amounts already being absorbed.’ and get ingested by fish, birds and worms. With that nuance in mind, it becomes clear Microplastics can also absorb toxins from that observing an effect of microplastic and the environment, such as PCBs and DDT. the toxic substances it carries in the natural These ‘persistent organic substances’ have world is very tricky indeed, says Koelmans.

PHOTO ISTOCKPHOTO chemical properties that make them adhere ‘If you do field research you deal with a lot of readily to plastic surfaces. biological variation in the data you are trying SOURCES OF This means that organisms that eat to measure. The effect of absorption of toxic PLASTIC POLLUTION microplastic can easily be exposed to toxic substances from plastic falls roughly within It is not an exact science, but substances, says Wageningen professor of that variation. So we shall probably never be governments and researchers are water and sediment quality Bart Koelmans. able to detect big effects of toxic substances finding out more and more about In recent years, his group has concentrated in microplastic from the field data.’ the various sources of plastic on research into the effects of clean and But that is not the end of the matter. pollution. For the plastic in the sea, polluted microplastic on fulmars, lugworms, Koelmans is very keen to find out more the 50-kilometer-wide coastal strip mussels, water fleas and algae. about the effects of even more finely ground is crucial. Worldwide, that is where Koelmans’ group looked at effects of plastic plastic particles, the ones which are not visi- most people live and it is their pollution in saltwater and freshwater envi- ble to the naked eye. Laboratory tests have plastic waste that is likely to end up ronments, by exposing organisms to shown that these ‘nanoplastics’, as they are in the sea. A major source is badly higher and higher concentrations of micro- called, can pass through biological mem- processed household waste and scopically small particles of polystyrene. In branes and thus permeate the gut lining litter on streets and roadsides that algae this limits growth, and water fleas not and get inside cells. is carried to the sea by the wind, only stay smaller but also reproduce less sewers, rivers and other waterways. successfully. Sandworms, which live on COSMETICS Alongside this obvious source of the seabed, become thin if there are a lot There is even less knowledge available about plastic pollution, consumers and of polystyrene balls in the sand. When the the effects of plastic on land, a topic on industry produce a lot more plastic seabed is polluted, with PCBs for instance, which there are hardly any academic publi- particles, some of which end up in they ingest a lot more of this. cations. ‘I think that is because in the sea the sea. In 2014, the Norwegian In this kind of study, researchers often and on the beaches the problem is highly ministry of the Environment calcu- decide to magnify the conditions by using visible,’ says Violette Geissen of the Soil lated the contributions of various high concentrations of the toxic substances Physics and Land Management chair group sources of microplastics. Norway’s and adding a lot of additional plastic, says at Wageningen UR. ‘Also, the biggest prob- five million inhabitants wash about Koelmans. ‘Then you certainly do see a lems with plastics in the soil are in develop- 600 tons of plastic fibres into the negative impact on growth and reproducing countries and southern Europe. No sewer system by washing synthetic tion, but that doesn’t tell you what the research is being done on it there yet.’ clothing, and 450 tons in the form situation is in the ocean.’ It is not at all clear how much plastic waste of dust from their homes. Roads ends up in the soil, says Geissen. It gets into are another big source of plastic CUMULATIVE the soil through garbage dumping, litter or particles: road markings and tyres, The consequences in the ocean depend on sewer sludge containing microplastics from release 320 and 4500 tons of the quantities of PCBs already present in plastic fibres in clothing in the washing plastic particles respectively. an animal, thinks Koelmans, as well as on machine, and even from cosmetics. how badly polluted its food is. ‘If a toxin is Geissen is a pioneer in this uncharted terri-

14 WAGENINGENWORLD ENVIRONMENT

‘If we stop plastic getting into the sea from today, it will have disappeared from the North Sea in 20 years’

tory. One of her research areas is China, plastic does get broken down completely, metres below the surface. And you cannot where for a number of years now, thousands with plastic waste we dump all kinds of recreate the ocean in the lab.’ of hectares of farmland have been covered toxic substances into the environment. with a transparent foil called plastic mulch. That’s another reason to stop doing it.’ PREVENTING TRAGEDIES This restricts evaporation but the foil disin- It is not easy for scientists to keep track of Van Franeker: ‘It might sound worrying that tegrates when it is removed and little bits of microplastic and the even smaller variant, we don’t yet know where the microplastic plastic get ploughed deeper and deeper into nanoplastic, says Van Franeker. goes to, but if the effects were really dramatic the soil. Geissen: ‘In some agricultural soils Microplastic is just visible with the naked we would probably have noticed them by now. we find between 0.5 and 1 percent micro- eye but once it has broken down further Because certain regions would have plastic. That is an awful lot.’ into nanoplastic, you need a microscope. become completely lifeless, for example, or Soil fauna eat microplastics, as Geissen ‘You have to try to measure plastic particles because of all sorts of inexplicable diseases showed in a recently published experiment whose presence in the environment is very affecting marine animals. My hope is that the with earthworms living in soil with varying hard to demonstrate. Because how do you plastic problem will not be too overwhelming, quantities of microplastic. ‘Worms dig, so find nanoparticles of plastic in a sea full of and that if we cut down on plastic waste now, they concentrate the microplastic in their biological nanoparticles?’ we can prevent real tragedies. But that’s just poo and transport it up to half a metre deep. Koelmans’ guess is that microplastic float- a feeling, not science. Based on that feeling We don’t know whether it gets broken down ing just beneath the waves in the ocean I do think we should be careful. And without and how much risk there is of it getting disappears from view because the surface crying wolf we should call people to action.’ washed out into the groundwater. Another of the particle gets overgrown with a layer The question of to what extent plastics interesting question is whether microplas- of bacteria and algae. The particles then have an ecological impact is still not easy tics attract agricultural pesticides. We want become so heavy that they slowly sink to to answer, notes Van Franeker. Species to find out whether microplastic has an depths of hundreds of metres or more. respond in very different ways. ‘We are influence on the transport and breakdown The visible plastic islands are the tip of looking at fulmars because they are very of herbicides.’ the iceberg, with masses of floating plastic common birds. In spite of the plastic in their confetti below them at greater depths. stomachs, that species has increased in LITTLE BREAKDOWN Koelmans’ group is currently working on numbers over recent decades. More recently ‘I think most plastics hardly break down at model studies which describe the process they’ve not been doing so well here and there, all,’ says Van Franeker. ‘Just because you no of breakdown into microplastic and sink- but can you prove that’s because of plastic? longer see the plastic, it doesn’t mean it’s ing to the depths of the ocean, in the hope You can’t make a watertight case for that. gone. Microplastic in the sea disappears in of learning more about what happens to Perhaps plastic causes some extra deaths a few decades, but where it gets to and the plastic. ‘It is difficult to get a grasp of among fulmars, which you only notice when what form it takes, goodness knows. Some the biological process involved as the there is a shortage of food. I say: use your kinds of breakdown of plastics by fungi and plastic gets overgrown and then sinks,’ common sense and make sure we don’t get bacteria have been described but we don’t says Koelmans. ‘But when researchers yet more microplastics in the environment. know how fast that goes and where it hap- take measurements on the ocean, their Policymakers shouldn’t wait until there is pens. Nor do those studies tell us what is scope is restricted. The plastic research at conclusive scientific evidence that species are left in terms of plastic residues. Many plastic sea primarily looks just under the surface. dying out.’ W materials are toxic and they can include fire We cannot be sure how much plastic is retardants and solvents. And even if the floating around two to three thousand www.wageningenur.nl/en/plasticinwater

WAGENINGENWORLD 15 The sustainable option

The Dutch say they care about the planet, about animal welfare and about poverty, but they don’t choose sustainable products in the supermarket. ‘You go to the supermarket to do your shopping, not to save the world.’ Negative logos could help.

TEXT KORNÉ VERSLUIS ILLUSTRATIONS GEERT-JAN BRUINS

16 WAGENINGENWORLD CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The sustainable option

he resolve to create a sustainable world is no different to a New Year’s resolution, says researcher TYnte van Dam. Such resolutions are perfectly sincere but they start to fade as soon as it rains too hard to go to the gym. ‘The goal is abstract and faraway. The choice is concrete and nearby. So the abstract resolution soon disappears from the picture.’ A researcher in the Marketing and Consumer Behaviour chair group, Van Dam obtained his doctorate in March with his research on sustainable consumption. A report on The Dutch and Sustainable Food, published last year by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, confirms that consumers find it hard to put their good resolutions into practice. According to that report, three quarters of the Dutch think the government should promote products with a label for sustainability or animal welfare. Yet only one in ten

Dutch shoppers buy such products them- PHOTO HOLLANDSE HOOGTE selves on a weekly basis. Price is the The supermarket shopper has a choice of a wide range of biggest obstacle to buying them eggs with many different labels. more often, surveys reveal. But Van Dam thinks price is not the only problem. ‘By slapping labels have imagined 30 years ago that there would now be on products that score above stickers on cigarette packs saying “Smoking kills”.’ average, supermarkets send the message that non-sustainable con- ENERGY GUZZLERS sumption is normal. You should do that What is more, Van Dam believes there are subtler ways the other way round of course.’ of using a negative label too. The introduction of an Van Dam researched his idea by getting test energy label on household appliances, for example, subjects to choose on a computer screen between soon caused energy guzzling appliances to disappear products with and without a logo. He used the familiar from the shops. Since 1995 it has been a requirement for EKO logo but also a non-EKO logo he designed himself. fridges, washing machines and other appliances to carry The latter turned out to have much more effect that the an energy label with a score which first went from A to G former. Test subjects were far more willing to pay extra and now ranges from A+++ to D. Ever since then, con- to avoid products with a non-EKO logo than to opt for sumers have gone for fridges in the top half of the range, the positive EKO logo. so appliances have become much more energy-saving. A neat result for a scientist, but not very practical. By using logos such as these, supermarkets could help Producers are not going to want to bring in negative their customers live up to their good intentions. logos, and why would the government make such a logo Gerrit Antonides, professor of the Economics of compulsory? Van Dam: ‘You never know. I could never Consumers and Households, agrees with Van Dam: >

WAGENINGENWORLD 17 GERRIT ANTONIDES YNTE VAN DAM professor of the Economics of researcher of consumer behaviour at Consumers and Households at Wageningen University Wageningen University ‘Labels on products that ‘Labels place the emphasis score above average send the on profits, but people are message that non-sustainable

PHOTO GUY ACKERMANS more sensitive to losses’ PHOTO GUY ACKERMANS consumption is normal’

negative labels work better. Antonides: ‘People are loss- consumers have no idea what the check mark on averse.’ The psychological impact of losing a 50 euro products means. note is bigger than that of finding one. And this aversion For the people who are serious about sustainability to loss goes beyond hard cash. ‘Buying a product with and know the difference between all the labels, there are a negative label is seen as a loss in relation to the norm. other decisions to make. What do you put first, animal The existing labels place the emphasis on profits, but welfare or the planet? Free-range pigs and organic people are more sensitive to losses.’ chickens use more feed, giving them a bigger ecological Another common phenomenon in behavioural eco footprint than their less fortunate fellows on regular nomics, says Antonides, is that in surveys people paint farms. So which is more important? a more positive picture of their willingness to pay extra Koen Boone of LEI Wageningen UR is working on for sustainable or animal-friendly products than the a measuring instrument intended to bring some order reality of the choices they make in the supermarket. to the chaos around ethical labels. He is director of the ‘We call that cheap talk. If you ask people how much European branch of The Sustainability Consortium extra they’d pay in an imaginary scenario to give (TSC), a collaboration between almost 100 research chickens more space, they concentrate entirely on that institutes, NGOs and companies including numerous issue, whereas when they are in the supermarket they multinationals such as Walmart, Coca-Cola, Ahold and weigh up different priorities. There are so many things Unilever. Together with four research institutes, one of you can spend your money on.’ them Wageningen UR, they have identified the main sustainability issues for each product group, and ways TOO COMPLICATED of measuring them. In the case of washing powders, The world of ethical logos is pretty complicated, it has for instance, the big questions are whether the palm to be said. For eggs alone there are 19 different labels oil used in manufacturing the detergent comes from and logos, from free-range and EKO to Gijs eggs and plantations carved out of tropical rainforest, and Hema Better Life. Hardly anyone knows exactly what whether it washes well at low temperatures. The issues they stand for. And the same applies in other areas. for clothing are child labour, working conditions in the The Consumer Association is campaigning against factories and the environmental impact of the production the check mark logo for healthier products of cotton and dyes. because it says the majority of TSC does not target consumers directly with its research results. Boone: ‘We think the biggest improvements can be made by the buyers working for supermarkets and other retailers. They have more time to go into the various sustainability aspects of a product but they don’t have so much time that they can embark on a scientific study. You could look at about 200 aspects per product. To enable buyers to assess a product properly, we have

18 WAGENINGENWORLD CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

CHARLOTTE LINNEBANK KOEN BOONE director of Questionmark director of the European branch of The Sustainability Consortium (TSC), ‘The producers of LEI Wageningen UR A brands don’t want ‘The biggest improvements a single blot on the can be made by the buyers copybooks’

PHOTO GUY ACKERMANS for supermarkets’

made a list of the main 10 to 15 sustainability issues There must be a demand for it, is what they say. And per product group.’ then you get everyone pointing the finger at everyone TSC published the first report with figures on the else. If change has to come from the consumer, you have sustainability scores of the member companies in May. to make it easier for them to make ethical choices.’ Boone: ‘We are going to do that every year so we can see whether we really do the things we plan to do.’ BARCODES One of the solutions to this is provided by the new METAL TIES Questionmark app. If you’re having breakfast and For the time being there is only anecdotal evidence that you want to know whether the cocoa in the chocolate this method is working. Walmart, for example, has sprinkles was made with slave labour, or how ethical asked major toy manufacturers to stop using metal ties your egg is, you only have to pick up your smartphone to attach dolls and trucks to their packaging. ‘You know, and scan the barcode. The app then tells you how those things that drive parents crazy when they are people- and animal-friendly the product is. trying to undo them at Christmas.’ TSC’s concern was Questionmark has its own calculation method for giving that its analysis showed that the metal ties add to the products scores for environment, animal welfare and negative environmental impact of toys. human rights. In April the company announced that the Boone: ‘You are not going to save the world by taking calculations will be based on the checklist of key sus- metal ties out of toy packaging but we think that if you tainability criteria for each product group drawn up by take small steps like that on many fronts, the combined The Sustainability Consortium. ‘This enables companies impact can be very big. The combined turnover of the to report clearly and it makes the results easier to com- companies participating is three times the Gross pare,’ says Questionmark director Charlotte Linnebank. National Product of the Netherlands, and there are Questionmark has evaluated more than 33,000 products. another 2000 companies that haven’t joined us but do ‘We think that this way we can work on sustainability use our methods. An improvement of just a few percent on two fronts,’ says Linnebank. ‘We are not targeting really does make a difference on the global scale.’ the dark green consumer who is already very well-in- The metal ties also demonstrate, says Boone, that this formed, but trying to provide people who would really can often be done in ways that benefit all parties. ‘Those like to make their shopping habits more sustainable things are used in toy packaging just out of habit, not with easily accessible information. And on the other because there’s no other way of doing it. Nobody has ever hand we make our analysis available to companies. stopped to think about it. Identifying where gains can be The producers of A brands definitely don’t want a single made will throw up more of these sorts of examples.’ blot on the copybooks. They want to be sure they are But Van Dam does not believe companies will change ahead of the field. By publishing our comparisons, we radically without pressure from consumers. stimulate them to improve their products.’ W ‘Governments and companies almost always see change as something that has to come from the consumer. www.wageningenur.nl/consumerbehaviour

WAGENINGENWORLD 19 DUTCH SUPPORT FOR AGRICULTURAL TEACHER TRAINING IN AFGHANISTAN ‘Students are allowed to ask questions now’

In the space of five years and with the aid of Wageningen expertise, a college for agriculture teachers has been established in Kabul, Afghanistan. ‘If you can give thousands of people good training, it will have a lasting impact on agriculture.’

TEXT ALEXANDRA BRANDERHORST PHOTO ANP

he fields of the school farm are If it goes wrong, we explain their mistakes built with Dutch government funding, the against the mountain slopes with afterwards.’ Netherlands having decided in 2009 to de- Tbreathtaking views over Kabul and the The farm is part of the National Agricultural velop agricultural education in Afghanistan. snow-topped peaks of the Hindu Kush. The Educational College (NAEC), which started Manager and development economist Hans air is cooler here than in the lower-lying city, in 2012 and offers a two-year agricultural van Otterloo and Wageningen UR’s Centre which is often blanketed in smog. There are teacher-training course in Kabul. Students for Development Innovation (CDI) were grapevines growing on the farm, as well as at the college are trained to teach in one of asked to implement the plans. apricots, apple and almond trees. And the the 180 Agricultural High Schools in this greenhouses are full of radishes, carrots and war-torn and divided country. Nor is that ONLINE WORLD spinach. reality far away: the idyllic school grounds The new white two-storey building of the Further along there is a fishpond and a with their fields and low blocks of student NAEC looks smart and modern. The teach- chicken run, still empty now in April, just accommodation can only be entered ing wing is behind the administration wing, after the cold winter. The fields are bare too. through a gate with steel doors and watch- with offices for the managers and teachers. Soon the students will start planting toma- men and is surrounded by high walls topped Groups of students stand around chatting. toes, aubergines, spinach, peppers and with rolls of barbed wire. These are intended They are wearing the traditional kameez, a cauliflowers, explains farm manager to prevent suicide bombers blowing them- long shirt that comes below the knee, over Hazrat Gulab. ‘We give them free rein. selves up in busy places. The complex was trousers and under a short jacket. They >

20 WAGENINGENWORLD AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION

DUTCH SUPPORT FOR AGRICULTURAL TEACHER TRAINING IN AFGHANISTAN

WAGENINGENWORLD 21 board at the college throughout the course. graduating. But their knowledge will not go various different teaching methods,’ says The light and spacious library houses books to waste. Most of the male students come Zainab Noori, one of the new teachers. She on agriculture in Dari and Pashto, the main from farming families from rural areas and graduated as a vet at the University of languages in Afghanistan. The school has a they apply what they have learned back in Kerman in Iran, taught for a short while at a simple laboratory and a computer room, in their communities, says the director. That is private university in Kabul, and now teach- which students can start finding their way true of teacher Amini at Dakoo Agricultural ers Animal Sciences at the NAEC. ‘We are around the digital and online world. High School. He grows aubergines, toma- unique in having women staff who are in The students also experience a different edu- toes and okra. ‘In my district it is customary senior positions and are respected. That is cational approach to the one they are used to burn animal dung but at the NAEC I not standard practice in Afghan organiza- to. Both involving students actively in the learned how you can mix it with compost to tions.’ This goes beyond having women lesson and teaching them practical skills as fertilize the land. My harvests are bigger teachers. During breaks groups of women well as theory are new ideas in Afghanistan, now.’ First Amini taught his family this students can be seen standing and sitting explains Shah Pour Abdulrahimzai, general method, and then the neighbours asked how around on the second floor of the NAEC. director of the NAEC. The future agriculture it worked. ‘Now all the farmers in the area As always in Afghanistan, they wear head- teachers have classes in teaching methodol- are making compost like that.’ scarves and coats or jackets that come down ogy and communication skills, and learn to to their knees. But you don’t see here the give presentations, write reports and carry TRAINED IN WAGENINGEN long black cloaks or blue burkas worn by out case studies. New subjects are offered as Thirteen of the forty teachers at the college many women on the streets. Male students well. ‘When farmers grow more vegetables are Afghans who were trained in do not come onto this floor. Except for the or fruit, they need to know how to sell them Wageningen. In 2011 they got their Master’s final semester, classes are single-sex. too. Knowledge about storage and process- degrees in Development Management or The NAEC has over 500 students, 20 percent ing of agricultural products, and obtaining Agricultural Production Chain Management of them girls. Most of them come from access to the market, is new here,’ says at VHL University of Applied Sciences. This Kabul and are bussed in. The Dutch govern- Abdulrahimzai. group of teachers, which includes director ment, which finances and supports the Rahimuldin Amini is one of the 411 gradu- Abdulrahimzai, provided the basis for the NAEC, wants women to be educated too. ates of the college so far. After graduating in NAEC and developed curricula and teaching The chances of their going on to teach in the 2014 he got a job as a teacher of plant sci- material. provinces are small, because they cannot go ences, farm management and zoology at the New teachers are trained internally and are there without their families. In any case, Dakoo Agricultural High School in his home sometimes sent on a course overseas to most women stay at home once they get province of Jowzan. ‘The other teachers saw bridge the gap. ‘At the NAEC I learned engaged or married. me using the new teaching methods and how to plan a curriculum and I got to know But there are exceptions, such as Nahid were interested. Their lessons were purely focused on transmitting theoretical knowledge. The students were passive and were not allowed to ask questions,’ says Amini on the phone. At their own request, Amini trained his new colleagues in the teaching methods and practical skills he had picked up at the NAEC. ‘Students are much more active in class now. And we also have more practical classes now.’ Not all the graduates land on their feet like this. One in five goes on to further studies, but the massive unemployment in Afghanistan – estimates range from 35 to 55 percent – makes it difficult for more than

half the graduates to find work soon after PHOTOS NAEC

22 WAGENINGENWORLD AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION

Ahmady. With her NAEC degree in the bag, she is now teaching groups of women farm- AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN AFGHANISTAN ers in the vicinity of Kabul about dairy farming, animal feeds and business The establishment of the National Agricultural Educational College management. Many farming families have (NAEC), which trains agriculture teachers at higher education level, one or two cows, which are looked after by is a Dutch project aimed at strengthening and modernizing agricultural the women. ‘We use a lot of photos and pic- vocational education in Afghanistan. The ten-year project started in 2011 tures on the training courses. What I tell and is led by Wageningen UR’s Centre for Development Innovation (CDI). them is very practical. For example, we teach The ministries of Foreign Affairs and Economic Affairs are financing the women to make silage,’ says Ahmady. The establishment and development of the teacher-training programme with training courses are part of an FAO pro- a budget of 21.6 million euros. The money is spent on building educatio- gramme to develop the dairy sector. Ahmady nal facilities and developing new, practically oriented teaching material was selected because of her knowledge and for the 180 Agricultural High Schools in the country, currently working experience, she explains, even though some with 40-year-old material. One of the project’s aims is to promote the of the other candidates had university de- inclusion of girls in agricultural vocational education. The NAEC already grees. ‘I can give presentations and use dif- has 20 percent women students. In order to offer girls in the provinces ferent teaching methods.’ an agricultural training course, the NAEC wants to launch a pilot project in the province of Baghlan in 2017, combining skills training, correspon- PROJECT EXTENSION dence classes and classes broadcast on the radio. The Dutch embassy in Kabul is impressed by the NAEC too, says first secretary Bart de Bruijn. The Dutch minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Liliane Ploumen, who visited the NAEC for the sec- ‘Education is a catalyst for ond time in March this year, is enthusiastic about the progress of the project. So the development’ Netherlands wants to extend the project period by a few years, says De Bruijn, although he does mention that the Dutch contribution is for a specified period. ‘The school needs to become self-supporting in the next few has increased.’ Security precautions such as years. It is important that the NAEC looks an armoured car with a driver are not exces- for ways of generating its own income sive. But Van Otterloo keeps his cool. ‘You through consultancies or another donor,’ can’t go around wondering if every car you says De Bruijn. ‘That is very difficult. A lot see is about to be blown up by a car bomb. depends on the peace process for You won’t have a life if you do that here.’ Afghanistan. An agreement with the Taliban He gets his satisfaction from his work. ‘If in could take the sting out of the conflict. If se- ten years you can provide 1000 people with a curity improves, Afghanistan can attract in- solid training, that will have a lasting impact vestments from outside.’ on agriculture,’ says Van Otterloo. For the time being, security is still an issue, ‘Education is a catalyst for development. and one that affects the Dutch project leader It makes people more resilient and able to too. Until two years ago Van Otterloo went stand up for themselves better, not just in shopping in Kabul on foot. He cannot do an economic sense. What people learn can that now. ‘At the beginning of 2014 there never be taken away from them.’ W were several attacks on foreigners. Since then the risk of being robbed or kidnapped www.wageningenur.nl/education-afghanistan

WAGENINGENWORLD 23 Taming viruses

Viruses are sophisticated pathogens, but virologists random day in the life of a baculo virus. Having spent days sitting are now using smart tricks to make viruses do their A on a leaf, the virus is eaten by an unsuspecting caterpillar. Its protective bidding. They are using them to combat insect capsule falls off inside the caterpillar’s intestines and now the virus is busy pests or produce vaccines for cervical cancer and penetrating one of the intestinal cells. chikungunya, for example. Once inside the cell, it makes its way to the nucleus, which is where it needs to TEXT EVELINE THOENES PHOTOS ANP ILLUSTRATION ERIK CRINS be in order to get itself multiplied.

24 WAGENINGENWORLD VIROLOGY

Electronic microscope shots of baculoviruses (red). On the left the virus is releasing DNA (green). On the right: a cell infected with baculoviruses.

The virus itself is not much more than some produce the associated virus proteins, so few decades, biologists have come up with genetic material in wrapping: a small packet the virus makes the caterpillar produce more applications where these baculoviruses can of DNA in a protein capsule, unable to do virus particles, which in turn penetrate other be put to good use,’ explains Monique van anything other than get itself reproduced by body cells to repeat the process. Oers, who has been professor of Virology making use of the mini living factories in the at Wageningen UR since 2013. ‘All viruses cells of plants or animals. Baculoviruses WHO IS THE MOST CUNNING? in the baculovirus family only infect certain mainly use caterpillars. Once the virus has Viruses are crafty – but so are virus research insects and leave other organisms alone, inserted its DNA in the nucleus of a cater ers. In the Virology group’s laboratory in which makes them ideal for use as biopesti pillar cell, the caterpillar’s enzymes auto Wageningen, it is the baculoviruses that do cides protecting crops against insect pests. matically start to ‘read’ the DNA and the bidding of the researchers. ‘In the past They have been used in this way since the >

WAGENINGENWORLD 25 1940s, for example for combatting caterpillar damage in apples, cotton and sugar cane.’ In the 1980s, researchers found a way of using these viruses in manipulating insect cell cultures. ‘Giving the virus a new piece of DNA and then using that to infect the artifi cially cultivated insect cells lets you force those cells to produce proteins that can be used as vaccines,’ explains Van Oers. According to her, this method has big advantages over conventional production methods with genetically manipulated bac teria. Bacteria are simple cells that cannot produce all types of proteins by a long way. ‘Compared to them, insect cells are much closer to human cells and therefore much better able to do this,’ says Van Oers. ‘As long as you supply them with the right bit of DNA. And that’s something that these viruses are very good at. Baculoviruses are harmless to humans, which makes this an ideal and very safe production system for medicines.’

SINT MAARTEN There are two human vaccines on the market that are produced in insect cells using manip ulated baculoviruses: a vaccine for cervical cancer and one for flu. ‘Now that we have the first products for application in humans and we have proof that they work well and are safe, the expectation is that more will follow.’ Scientists in Wageningen are now working on a vaccine for the chikungunya virus. Chikungunya is a nasty tropical disease causing fever and joint pain; it is transmitted from one person to another by mosquitoes. The virus was originally found mainly in Africa and Asia but at present it is a big problem in the Caribbean, including on Sint Maarten. ‘So in that sense it’s already on Dutch soil. Our prototype vaccine has already successfully been tested on mice and is cur rently being tried out on monkeys,’ says Van Oers. ‘If that is also a success, we hope we will able to develop it further in partnership with a pharmaceutical company.’

CATERPILLAR ARENA Given the extensive range of applications for baculoviruses, researchers all over the world

26 WAGENINGENWORLD VIROLOGY

‘Baculoviruses are an ideal production system for vaccines’

the ever-increasing numbers of farmed fish, it is only to be expected that there will be all kinds of viral outbreaks,’ says Van Oers. ‘Those fish live in close quarters and are sometimes under a lot of stress. Then want to know as much as possible about on top that lets them track the caterpillars. viruses soon spread. Incidentally, you often them. In Wageningen, attention is increas ‘We don’t know yet exactly how these viruses see that viruses only really become a problem ingly being paid to the baculovirus in its influence their movement: whether they do when you start having a large number of natural conditions and its interaction with something to the brain or exert an indirect individuals of the same species living close the hosts that it infects. Not only does the influence via hormones, for example. We together. Many plant viruses, for example, virus apply a trick to ensure it gets repro now want to see how the caterpillar’s gene clearly only evolved once humans started duced, it also influences the behaviour of its expression and protein profiles change by farming and there were suddenly large host. The virus is able to make the caterpillar comparing caterpillars that have been numbers of the same plant growing close crawl along faster and to make it climb infected with a normal baculovirus against together.’ upwards. The caterpillar eventually ends up caterpillars infected by a baculovirus in Van Oers thinks that the different research dying from the infection at a place far away which the gene causing the hyperactivity lines can benefit from their mutual inter from the original leaf where the virus exited has been removed.’ connections. ‘I believe we can learn an awful the dead body of its previous host. This lot from one another. Insects often play a brings the virus to a new area with cater HITCHING A LIFT part in the viruses we are looking at, so the pillars that are still healthy, whose cells it In addition to the insect virus research, methods they use to defend themselves are can use to reproduce further. there are two other research areas in the interesting for all of us. The funny thing is ‘The further and higher the sick caterpillars Wageningen Virology group. Here too the that we are really increasingly working on crawl, the greater the leaf area contaminated focus is on the interactions between the the fringes of virology because we are doing with the virus as the caterpillar corpses dis viruses and either their hosts or the ‘vec a lot on the virus-host and virus-vector integrate. Caterpillars that end up in the tors’: living creatures, mostly insects, with interactions. One of the questions we are treetops are also picked up more easily by which viruses can hitch a lift. ‘For instance, currently focusing on is what determines birds, which boosts the spread of the virus we are looking at arboviruses, including whether Dutch mosquito species are capable as well,’ explains Van Oers. ‘That is obvious chikungunya, that are spread by mosquitoes of transmitting viruses that are tropical in ly good for the virus. In 2014 we showed that and make humans or livestock sick. We also origin, such as the West Nile virus and the crawling along faster and the climbing study the mechanisms plants have for resist chikungunya. That is important because it are caused by two different genes. Light is ing plant viruses, which is an important lets us assess how big a risk there is of those also an essential factor in the climbing.’ topic in crop production,’ says Van Oers. viruses causing problems here too.’ W To study their movement, the lab has set up Her group is also working on developing a a caterpillar arena with cameras mounted vaccine for a viral disease in salmon. ‘Given www.wageningenur.nl/viruses

WAGENINGENWORLD 27 01000011 01101111 01101110 Getting wise 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 01000011 011101100100 01101111 0011 01101111 01101110 01101110 01110110 011101100100 to big data 0011 01101111 01101110 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 01000011 011101100100 01101111 New insights and knowledge are hidden inside the world’s 0011 01101111 01101110 01101110 01110110 01000011 011101100100 01101111 0011 01101111 fast-growing mountain of digital data. To uncover them, 01101110 01101110 01110110 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 we need smart software and computing power – and an 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 awful lot of data experts. ‘In ten years’ time, 80 percent 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 011101100100 of research will be based on the analysis of datasets.’ 0011 01101111 01101110 011101100100 TEXT RIK NIJLAND ILLUSTRATIONS KAY COENEN 0011 01101111 01101110 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 01110110

28 WAGENINGENWORLD BIOINFORMATICS

WAGENINGENWORLD 29 t the start of this year, Alphabet became the most ted in Wageningen’s domain is also expected to grow valuable company in the world. This was the first fast. Thanks to modern IT, sensors are already being Atime that the ranking was headed by a newcomer placed in greenhouses or on tractors to monitor crop that deals in information rather than a manufacturer or growth. All the milking robots, taken together, know oil company, for Alphabet is Google’s parent company. almost everything there is to know about hundreds of The rise of this company – it only entered the top 100 thousands of cows. Hidden in that mass of data are ten years ago – is a clear sign of the value attached to new insights and knowledge, especially if you can link information, IT and datasets. different datasets, such as data on milk production or In numerous fields, the volume of data that is being feed consumption with genetic information. stored and processed digitally is growing at a dizzying rate. That is happening for example with DNA (see box) TRAILBLAZERS but also closer to home. According to Karin Andeweg, it is crucial for Modern cars send information to the manufacturer day Wageningen to develop this new knowledge further. in, day out about RPMs and journey distances, for She and Sander Janssen are the driving force and official example. This interesting information can help fine- trailblazers for big data, which Wageningen UR has tune maintenance packages but is also useful input for declared a priority area. ‘Big data seems like a hype but studies of differences in driving behaviour, a subject that in a few years it’ll be commonplace. In ten years’ time, appeals to both researchers and insurers. we expect 80 percent of research to be based on the ana- 01000011 01101111 lysis and combination of datasets for the generation of 01101110 011101100100 STIR-FRYING BROCCOLI new knowledge.’ 0011 01101111 01101110 A wealth of knowledge about our preferences is stored There are already signs of that future. Wageningen UR 011101100100 0011 01101111 in the databases of Google, major retail chains, text is involved in an experiment in Amsterdam in which 01101110 011101100100 messaging, Twitter and car manufacturers, about accele- hundreds of thousands of mobile phones are used to 0011 01101111 01101110 01000011 rating fast, what we search for on the Internet or what determine where crowds are growing dangerously big 011101100100 01101111 0011 01101111 01101110 we like to eat, for instance. An analysis of Dutch Twitter on busy days. This experiment also tracks whether the 01101110 01110110 011101100100 messages showed that the word ‘broccoli’ often ap- measures taken have any effect. There is no need to send 0011 01101111 01101110 peared in combination with ‘stir-frying’. Not earth- observers out onto the streets. 011101100100 0011 01101111 shattering news but an eye-opener on consumer In the near future, it will no longer be necessary either 01101110 01000011 011101100100 01101111 behaviour for the vegetable sector. for researchers to do fieldwork to obtain measurements 0011 01101111 01101110 01101110 01110110 01000011 011101100100 This rapidly expanding mountain of digital data is ter- of crop growth, for instance in wheat fields. In fact, 01101111 0011 01101111 01101110 01101110 med ‘big data’. The ‘big’ in big data refers not just to the scientists can already use sensors in the field or data 01110110 011101100100 0011 01101111 vast volume but also to Big Brother, the omniscient state from drones or satellites covering the entire wheat 01101110 011101100100 that controls everything we do in George Orwell’s vision field, or several fields at a time, rather than a couple of 0011 01101111 01101110 of the future. experimental plots as in the past. 011101100100 0011 01101111 Wageningen UR is now taking steps to facilitate explora- Dealing with such mountains of data is a piece of cake 01101110 011101100100 tion of large datasets, for the information being genera- for computers, in principle. If you link the information 0011 01101111 01101110 to data on fertilizer quantities, soil characteristics, 011101100100 0011 01101111 spraying and precipitation, you can find out in no time 01101110 011101100100 how a particular wheat variety performs under varying 0011 01101111 01101110 conditions. Such research currently takes scientists 011101100100 0011 01101111 years as they study various sub-aspects. Farmers will 01101110 011101100100 eventually benefit too when all that knowledge is incor- 0011 01101111 01101110 porated in useful advice. 011101100100 Half a million data 0011 01101111 01101110 01110110 experts will be needed A CHANGE OF TACK The EU thinks that the scientific world will only actually over the next ten years be able to exploit datasets in this way if it changes tack. In mid-April, the European Commission announced that it would be investing billions of euros in data manage-

30 WAGENINGENWORLD BIOINFORMATICS

‘If you want to keep up, you need to invest’

ment. Research results are often not stored properly: scientific journals do not have the space or it may not be possible to access or link the files properly due to the use of different formats. As a result, clever software and plenty of computing power are needed to extract the

PHOTO ANP relevant information. That applies in Wageningen too, says Andeweg. ‘We need to invest in hardware, in employees with IT skills and in data scientists. And we need BIG NUMBERS to train people so that they can work in line with this Astronomers and physicists have been playing new approach to research.’ During Wageningen with vast quantities of data for a long time. University’s Foundation Day celebrations in early March, The results of 600 million collisions per second Rector Magnificus Arthur Mol called data science ‘a new are recorded during experiments in CERN’s frontier’. Wageningen UR is considering the possibility particle accelerator. But biologists have been of setting up a data sciences centre to strengthen that catching up since the turn of the century. new area of expertise. The first human genome was deciphered in At the event, guest speaker Laxmi Parida from IBM 2003; this was followed by the thousandth in Research talked about the options her company offers. 2011 and the millionth is expected next year. A key role is played by Watson, IBM’s self-learning DNA sequencing capacity triples each year. supercomputer named after a former company CEO. It is A comparable data explosion can be seen in able to process information in no time, search literature proteins and the body’s metabolic products. from the entire world (40 million documents in 15 se- This is turning biology into a data science, says conds), detect associations and appraise the value of Dick de Ridder, professor of Bioinformatics at information thanks to advanced artificial intelligence. Wageningen University. Billions of data items on ‘To develop computer programs that can reason and genomes, genes, proteins and other molecules learn to solve complex problems, you need the com- are combined in huge files and systematically bined expertise of computer scientists and specialists analysed. in the discipline in question,’ says Parida. ‘Those two ‘The expectation is that we will be able to read groups need to constantly work together on programs one million billion DNA bases this year,’ says such as Watson to “teach” it how to solve such pro- De Ridder. ‘Bioinformatics specialists are skilled blems.’ She thinks that data science will become a new in using those terabytes of data to formulate scientific discipline that will bring together researchers new biological hypotheses. Whereas biologists and companies from different fields. ‘It is all about currently often outsource data analysis to the context, context, context.’ bioinformatics guys, I am expecting more and more researchers to sit at the computer HIGH-POTENTIAL TODDLER working on predictions and then outsource the ‘Watson is a toddler that still has to be taught every- experimental validation to scientists in the lab.’ thing, but it also has huge potential,’ says Richard Visser, professor of Plant Breeding at Wageningen UR. >

WAGENINGENWORLD 31 Last year, he contacted IBM Research to suggest using the supercomputer for potato breeding. Visser expects Watson Potato, as the system is known informally, to become an important tool that will make the breeding process more efficient and help get better results. But first Watson has to learn to focus. ‘If it sees the word “tuber”, it mustn’t end up with dahlias,’ explains Visser.

01000011 01101111 01101110 DIGGING DEEPER 011101100100 Once it has been through that learning process, Visser 0011 01101111 01101110 thinks Watson Potato will be a valuable instrument for 011101100100 0011 01101111 scanning literature, for example on the position of a spe- 01101110 011101100100 cific gene. ‘Watson can search much faster than we can 0011 01101111 01101110 and look at far more literature. We are capable of finding 011101100100 0011 01101111 out that this gene is in the upper part of chromosome 3, 01101110 for example, but that’s still an area with 1000 genes. 011101100100 0011 01101111 That is more than we can manage,’ says Visser. ‘Watson 01101110 011101100100 can dig deeper, comparing those 1000 genes with the 0011 01101111 01101110 DNA from other plants, or even fungi, mussels or birds, 011101100100 0011 01101111 to see what is known about the function of those genes 01101110 011101100100 there. Then you can probably limit the list of candidates 0011 01101111 01101110 to five or ten genes, and as the computer gathers more 011101100100 and more data you may hit the jackpot straight off.’ 0011 01101111 01101110 The computer learns from its mistakes. If experts tell it 011101100100 0011 01101111 that the answers are going in the right direction, it 01101110 011101100100 continues along that path but if the feedback is negative, 0011 01101111 01101110 it abandons that route. ‘So it genuinely learns just like 011101100100 0011 01101111 a human,’ says Visser, ‘and builds up expertise. We will 01101110 be able to improve the selection of our breeding material 011101100100 0011 01101111 enormously by linking information about external 01101110 011101100100 characteristics, DNA composition, yields and growing 0011 01101111 01101110 conditions.’ 011101100100 0011 01101111 They may be able to get even more benefit out of Watson 01101110 011101100100 in the longer term, for example by putting it to work on 0011 01101111 complex problems. ‘Which genes are responsible for the 01101110 011101100100 fact that some potatoes remain firm when boiled while 0011 01101111 01101110 others turn to mush? We don’t really have a clue at the 01110110 moment.’

MAKE AGREEMENTS Despite the inviting prospects offered by big data, there are still hurdles looming ahead. Who should be allowed to make agreements about the data on a wheat field? The owner of the drone, the organization that is able to interpret the data, or the farmer? Do the data collected day in, day out by the milking robot belong to the manufacturer or the livestock farmer? That is still virtually uncharted territory. Who owns the results if a company and a university combine their datasets?

32 WAGENINGENWORLD BIOINFORMATICS

According to Ben Schaap, it is best for innovation if everyone has access to data files. Schaap has been sent on secondment by Wageningen UR to the global lobby ‘If access to data is restricted, organization Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN). Its sponsors include the US, the parties with more money will UK, the Netherlands and the FAO, while its 250 partners include both major companies, such as IBM and have control’ Syngenta, and local African NGOs. ‘Openness ensures a level playing field for everybody,’ says Schaap. ‘If access to data is restricted, parties with more money and power have control. A multinational can buy information and a one-person company can never compete with that. If the information from weather stations or satellites is made public, anyone can have a go with it — not just a multinational but also a whizz kid. Open data means that anyone can develop applications and farmers are not dependent on a single interesting application, we may want to take over organization that also supplies them with seed, fertili- your company”.’ zers or crop protection products, for instance.’ Plant breeding expert Visser is also in favour of open That is why Schaap feels it is really important for publi- access, but only under certain conditions. ‘You don’t cally funded data to be made available to all with no want any old whizz kid from Russia getting his hands strings attached. ‘That includes the datasets generated on the data. That’s what American researchers who are by the universities and institutes. The Dutch government funded by the National Science Foundation find so frus- and Dutch Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) trating at the moment. If they sequence a genome, then are now making open science a condition for grants. it has to be published on the web the very next day. They Researchers applying for money from the Gates don’t have time to look at it properly themselves first. Foundation or the European research programme Others sit back and wait for this, say “thank you very Horizon 2020 are also required to publish their data.’ much” and publish some nice results.’ Certain rules should be imposed even in open science, 01000011 COMMERCIAL INTERESTS thinks Visser. ‘Perhaps the user should say first what 01101111 01101110 Schaap can understand that companies will probably not they are intending to do with the data. If that’s close to 011101100100 0011 01101111 be keen to let others use their data. But he still expects our own areas of interest, it’s only logical if we then 01101110 011101100100 them to make exceptions if the data do not represent make arrangements about collaborating or if we say we 0011 01101111 01101110 a competitive advantage for them. ‘Syngenta released need to be given time first to publish a couple of papers.’ 011101100100 0011 01101111 a dataset on a pesticide for mosquitoes; this was not a 01101110 01000011 011101100100 01101111 priority area for the company and malaria researchers HARDWARE NEEDED 0011 01101111 01101110 01101110 01110110 were really pleased to have it. You should see this as their In March, a number of scientific institutions including 011101100100 0011 01101111 contribution to making the world a better place, along Wageningen UR published the FAIR Guiding Principles 01101110 011101100100 the same lines as a reduction in CO2.’ in Nature in an effort to facilitate cooperation. Data 0011 01101111 01101110 01000011 Yet he sees open data as more than simply charity. ‘There should be findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. 011101100100 01101111 0011 01101111 01101110 are also companies that are prepared to create an open A good start, says Visser. ‘But you also need hardware. 01101110 01110110 01000011 011101100100 data landscape,’ says Schaap. ‘They feel that exchanging It doesn’t matter where you store the data, whether 01101111 0011 01101111 01101110 01101110 data should be made easier so that more players can that’s with IBM, in the cloud or on SARA, we will still 01110110 011101100100 0011 01101111 work with one another’s data in developing useful appli- have to buy our own computer infrastructure for 01101110 011101100100 cations, for example in precision agriculture. The idea is Wageningen and have people who know how to operate 0011 01101111 01101110 that innovating is not something you can do on your it. Otherwise you’ll be dependent on others for every- 011101100100 0011 01101111 own anymore. Open science enables collaboration with thing. If you want to keep up, you need to invest.’ W 01101110 011101100100 smart inventors. Syngenta says to startups: “Please make 0011 01101111 01101110 use of our research data. If you come up with an www.wageningenur.nl/en/bigdata 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 WAGENINGENWORLD 33 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 011101100100 0011 01101111 01101110 01110110 Undesirable aliens There are more than 400 exotic species in the Netherlands – and still counting. They range from old friends such as the muskrat to newcomers such as the western conifer seed bug. Steps are taken to stop the advance of some species, while others are left alone. That decision is supported by research.

TEXT NIENKE BEINTEMA ILLUSTRATIONS STEFFIE PADMOS

34 WAGENINGENWORLD NATURE MANAGEMENT

t looks like a fox but it clearly isn’t one. A stockier the time. It worries us when species disappear. But it build, a comparatively dark back and then those can be worrying when new species come in as well.’ Ialmost comical sideburns – like those of the coyote that is always chasing Roadrunner. Not a fox, then, RISK ANALYSES but a Eurasian golden jackal. It was snapped in February He is not talking about species that head in this direc- by a hidden camera placed on the Veluwe heathland tion of their own accord, like the great egret, the lynx, by Alterra and Wageningen University, both part of the wolf and perhaps now the golden jackal. These are Wageningen UR. It was a chance sighting with a camera species which people - ecologists at least – see as a nice that was there to record the distribution of red deer and addition to the country’s fauna. No, he is referring to wild boar. But this particular bycatch was interesting: exotic species brought in through human activity (see apparently there is a golden jackal wandering around the box: A Matter of Definition). ‘We are less happy about Veluwe. A stranger to the Dutch fauna. It might have those species because they can cause damage,’ he says. come under its own steam from Greece or the Balkans – ‘Damage to our health or our economy, and even to our no one knows. biodiversity.’ > ‘In the Netherlands we are very keen on knowing which new animal species are coming in,’ says Hugh Jansman, animal ecologist at Alterra. ‘A lot of people assume that our species diversity is static, but of course that is not true at all. The distribution of populations changes all

WAGENINGENWORLD 35 natural habitat,’ he explains, ‘and to what extent con ditions in the Netherlands fall within that range, both ‘People don’t want to see cute now and in various climate scenarios. You study what the species eats, and to what extent that could make animals being wiped out’ it a competitor or predator of indigenous species. And you describe other characteristics such as whether the species can cross-breed with indigenous species and pass on diseases. And whether it is flexible and reproduces fast.’ One of the best-known examples is the muskrat. Ideally, Ottburg likes to see this kind of risk assessment Originally from North America and brought in to Europe being done in the early stages, even before an animal because of its attractive fur, it is now widespread and actually turns up in the Netherlands. ‘If it looks as seen as vermin. Because it undermines dykes, hundreds though the species could pose a risk,’ he says, ‘then you of muskrat catchers are employed continuously in the can sometimes take preventive measures – or intervene Netherlands in pest control efforts that cost the country as soon as it appears, as was done with the house crow about 30 million euros a year. Taking all the exotic spe- in Hoek van Holland. Then it doesn’t get the chance to cies together, the pest control costs are as much as one become invasive.’ to three billion per year, depending on whether you in- Invasive means the species spreads fast and poses a clude exotic pathogens such as viruses in the statistics. threat to other animal and plant species. Take American Alterra is conducting research on exotic species for the crayfish for example. They were imported at some point Dutch national and provincial authorities and for the for consumption purposes and for fishponds. They then water boards. The research is mainly risk analyses, says escaped or were deliberately released into the wild. ‘They Jansman. ‘It is policy support research addressing spe- devour everything,’ says Ottburg. ‘They can decimate cific questions about the effects a particular exotic spe- populations of amphibians and invertebrates at incredi- cies can have and the measures you can put in place to ble speed. They are here to stay now, with five related do something about it.’ species inhabiting most inland waters in the Netherlands. We’ll never get rid of them.’ HERE TO STAY Alterra has published risk analyses for the raccoon, MOST EFFECTIVE the Sika deer, exotic turtles, snakes and invertebrates. Sander Smolders of the risk analysis office (BuRO) at ‘These risk assessments are largely based on literature the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety studies,’ says Fabrice Ottburg, another member of the Authority (NVWA), which comes under the ministry Animal Ecology Team at Alterra. He collaborated on the of Economic Affairs, is pleased to see such risk assess- reports on turtles and snakes, as well as studying exotic ments. ‘On the basis of these we can decide what we are crayfish and fish. ‘First of all you describe the species’ best off focusing on,’ he says, ‘namely prevention, early

EXOTIC SPECIES IN THE NETHERLANDS

The Dutch Species Catalogue is the bird research association Sovon. as exotic, including 420 animals. the national database of organisms The initiators of the Species Catalogue These are only the species which (both native and exotic) found in the have been working for the ministry have managed to thrive in the country Netherlands. The Species Catalogue of Economic Affairs since 2009 on for longer than 10 years, so the real is managed by Naturalis and EIS- a list of exotic animal species in the number is somewhat higher. There are Nederland (the Dutch branch of the Netherlands. The first phase of this for example four species of squirrel European Invertebrate Survey) with project has been completed but the on the list at the moment, whereas the collaboration from specialists from list is continuously being updated. Mammal Society says there are now the Mammal Society, the reptile Currently 925 of the 35,378 species eight new species in the Netherlands research association RAVON and in the country have been identified which are successfully reproducing.

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Comes from: North American detection and elimination or, if it’s too late for that, In the Netherlands since: 1970 managing the invasive species’. He agrees that preven- Numbers: very big local populations tion is the most effective approach. But the government Damage: Damage banks, only considers intervening if an exotic species is causing prey on amphibians damage, or could do so, and if a set of measures is really feasible. ‘But the majority of exotic species are not invasive, so the government doesn’t want to spend public money on them.’ No active control measures are taken, for instance, against species such as the Egyptian goose and the ring- necked parakeet, because they do no damage. Alterra’s recent risk assessment on the raccoon showed that this is probably true of this species too. But there are a few other species that are risky, such as Pallas’s squirrel (which competes with the indigenous squirrel), the muskrat (which undermines dykes), the North America bullfrog (which can decimate invertebrates and amphibians) and the ruddy duck (which cross- breeds with the endangered white-headed duck). Partly as a result of the Alterra reports, the sale of non-indigenous turtles and the importation of crayfish are now restricted. ‘It is impossible, both practically and cost-wise, to prevent all the damage by exotic species,’ says Smolders. ‘So we must set priorities. And one priority is to prevent the introduction of problem Comes from: North America species in the Wadden Sea via shellfish trans- In the Netherlands since: portation by mussel fishers. So together with released for fur hunting early 20th century the sector we established a specific policy on Numbers: from high tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands this in 2013.’ Damage: damage dykes If Ottburg had his way, the government would increase its efforts on the prevention front. By further controlling the trade in exotic animal species, for instance. ‘That has been done for the American crayfish, but I still frequently see them for sale in garden centres. And the same goes for the pond perch, which is at least as voracious. If you ask me, enforcement could be given more priority.’

CROSS-BREEDING But sometimes legislation becomes less stringent instead. The old Flora and Fauna Act only allowed fal- coners to use indigenous species for hunting and pest control. Once the new Nature Act comes into force in June, however, a whole list of new exotic birds will be permitted, including the Saker falcon and the gyrfalcon. Comes from: South Asia They could hybridize with the indigenous peregrine In the Netherlands since: 1994 falcon. This is often even organized deliberately because Numbers: a few tens such hybrids can have a particular combination of Damage: none yet – cause nuisance and harm crops characteristics that are desirable for falconry. But they and brooding birds in other European countries often escape too, and reproduce in the wild. >

WAGENINGENWORLD 37 Alterra published a risk assessment about this at the A QUESTION OF DEFINITION behest of the ministry of Economic Affairs. ‘Of course it is debatable how bad hybridization is,’ says Alterra Exotic species, also known as alien or introduced species, are ecologist and geneticist Arjen de Groot. ‘On balance we animals, plants, fungi or micro-organisms imported through human think it is bad, especially where threatened indigenous activity into an area where they do not originally occur, but where species are concerned.’ One example is the indigenous they proceed to thrive. Species which were introduced to the northern crested newt, of which in certain parts of the Netherlands before the year 1500, such as the rabbit, the pheasant Veluwe you now only find hybrids, crossed with the and the mute swan, do not count and are considered indigenous. exotic Italian crested newt. Exotic species are sometimes introduced deliberately. An example Hybridization also takes place between the Sika deer is the multicoloured Asian ladybird, released in Europe 20 years ago and our indigenous red deer, between the once imported to combat aphids. Pheasants and fallow deer were once released as carp and the indigenous crucian carp, and between the hunting game. And every year hundreds of turtles and pond perch domestic cat and the wild cat – a natural newcomer that are released into Dutch watercourses when their owners have had we welcome with open arms. ‘For many species we don’t enough of them. really know exactly what the risks of hybridization are,’ But a lot of species get introduced by accident too. Sometimes pets says De Groot, ‘nor what percentage of the population is or ornamental animals escape from captivity, as did the Egyptian already hybrid. It would be good to systematically inves- goose, the Pallas’s squirrel and the Italian crested newt. Marine tigate under what conditions hybridization endangers creatures such as the Chinese mitten crab are brought in with ballast the survival of a species or population.’ water from ships; the tiger mosquito hitches a ride on tropical plants. Smolders at BuRO/ NVWA would be happy to see Alterra And since a canal was dug between the Rhine and Danube 20 years addressing these kinds of research programmes and ago, fish species from the Danube watershed, such as the round certainly not limiting itself to risk analyses. ‘Besides goby and the money goby, have been able to reach our waters. demand-driven research, it’s also essential that Another category of newcomers do not get classed as exotic spe- Wageningen UR continues to do its own more funda- cies: these include species such as the great egret, whose habitat mental research,’ he says. ‘Another important research is shifting as a result of climate change. These species fall into the question is: what makes exotic species invasive and same category as the lynx, the wild cat, the wolf and perhaps now how can we predict that more accurately? As well as the the golden jackal: animals that establish themselves here of their question: how can we make ecosystems more resilient own accord. to the negative impact of exotic species? If we can answer these questions satisfactorily, we can improve

Comes from: the Alps In the Netherlands since: first reported in 1999 Numbers: c. 35 populations on the Veluwe Damage: Competition and hybridization with indigenous crested newt

Comes from: North America In the Netherlands since: 2007 Numbers: from 1 in 2007 to several hundred in 2015 Damage: negligible

38 WAGENINGENWORLD NATURE MANAGEMENT

both the prevention and the management of invasive exotic species.’ ‘Enforcement could CUTE FACTOR Management often means active control. In the case of be given more priority, the American crayfish, there is not much point in that anymore, says Ottburg. But it is different for other spe- if you ask me’ cies. A few populations of the American bullfrog were eliminated in 2011, for instance, and of the Pallas’s squirrel in 2013. In Great Britain the ruddy duck that came in from America has been almost completely eliminated. This duck hybridizes with the endangered European white-headed duck. Sadly, that is not the end of the story, because the ruddy duck inhabits other parts from flooding meanwhile? ‘Preventive measures could of western Europe too, and not all countries make the be thought up to cater for that,’ says the researcher. same efforts to control it. ‘Grates in the dykes, for instance.’ And that is not just a matter of money or priorities, says And the golden jackal – are we going to find out whether Ottburg. ‘People are cautious about wiping out popula- it counts as an invasive species or as a natural new arrival? tions, especially of cute animals.’ He gives the example ‘There haven’t been any questions in parliament about it of the fallow deer that live in the Amsterdam Water yet,’ Jansman laughs. ‘So Alterra hasn’t received a direct Supply Dunes. ‘There are more than 4500 deer there, request to investigate it.’ But of course he is extremely stripping it bare. Trees and shrubs can’t rejuvenate curious – so he is doing his best to get hold of some anymore, flowers are disappearing and with them DNA material, from faeces for instance. ‘We are mobi- butterflies, sand lizards and brooding birds. Yet the lizing as many people as we can. So who knows?’ W squabbling about a possible cull has been going on and on.’ The same goes for the culling of house crows www.wageningenur.nl/exotics in Hoek van Holland. Critics think the species does no harm at all. Hugh Jansman too points to the aversion to killing DNA GIVES AWAY PRESENCE animals with a high cute factor, both among the general public and among policymakers. ‘There is more and Alterra Wageningen UR is developing new analysis methods to more resistance even to the culling of muskrats.’ In this help other organizations with the monitoring of exotic species. case, he has his own doubts too. ‘Not because I think One example is the environmental DNA (eDNA) method. This entails they’re so sweet but because the method of killing them proving the presence of animals on the basis of their DNA in water, is not very humane, and there is a lot of bycatch in the soil or even air – so without having to see or capture them. ‘You traps too. The decline of the stoat may very well be prove the presence of fragments of DNA, particularly skin cells and related to this.’ faeces, which are characteristic for the species in question,’ says ecologist and geneticist Arjen de Groot. FEWER TRAPS Alterra has already developed eDNA tests for various exotic species, He speculates as to whether the current policy on including the American signal crayfish and the round goby. These are numbers trapped actually has the effect of keeping the already being used in a few places. ‘The very latest development,’ population at the level at which it reproduces optimally, says De Groot, ‘is that eDNA is also being used to identify diseases as is the case with the deer and wild boar on the Veluwe. in water. Like the crayfish plague brought by American crayfish, for In other words: if we were to catch fewer of them, the instance. It doesn’t make them ill, but it does make the European population might naturally stabilize at an acceptable crayfish ill. Or the Ranavirus and the chytrid fungus in frogs.’ level. Something like this happened in Poland. ‘People De Groot hopes the eDNA technique can eventually be used to test stopped the muskrat control there, after which the whether and where water is infected, even after the possible elimi- population collapsed,’ says Jansman. ‘It is not clear nation of the exotic species carrying the disease. ‘But then you do why: possibly due to an infection. There needs to be have to know how long viruses and fungi have been in evidence in a thorough study of what would happen in the Nether the water,’ he says. ‘We still want to work on that.’ lands if we stopped.’ And what about our protection

WAGENINGENWORLD 39 COMMUNICATION SCIENTISTS 12 YEARS ON Supplying energy and restoring Haringvliet inlet

Both alumni did the Applied Communication Science Master’s, still new back in 2004. Now Mirjam Wagteveld manages the communication for a major nature project at WNF. Kirsten van Gorkum helps gas and electricity network operator Enexis formulate strategies for the future.

TEXT ALEXANDRA BRANDERHORST PHOTOGRAPHY HARMEN DE JONG

f we want to carry on living on Planet Van Gorkum studies the impact. ‘I enjoy purchasing and redesigning nature areas. Earth, we need to make maximum use taking complex issues and translating them Around 80 people are involved in total,’ ‘Iof renewable energy sources such as into a concrete project, recommendation, says Wagteveld, who is responsible for the sun, wind and water,’ says Kirsten van viewpoint or joint objective, in which sus the communication for the entire project. Gorkum, who obtained her Master’s in tainability always takes priority for me.’ ‘Each organization needs to be able to tell its Applied Communication Science in own story about its subprojects and at the Wageningen in 2006. Now she is a corporate MIGRATORY FISH ARE BACK same time a unified, clear message has to strategist at Enexis, which operates the Fellow student Mirjam Wagteveld cares be communicated about the significance of electricity grid and gas network in South, deeply about sustainability and green issues the area.’ There are a lot of aspects involved, East and North Netherlands. Van Gorkum too. In July 2015, Wagteveld became the she explains. ‘How do you generate local emphasizes how complex the energy ques communication manager for the Haringvliet support, how do you convince potential tion is. ‘How do you create a more sustaina ‘Dream Fund’ project at WNF, the Dutch financial partners, how do you keep the ble and affordable energy system in branch of the World Wide Fund For Nature. Postcode Lottery informed and how do collaboration with the users, the public Haringvliet used to be an estuary that you organize the internal communication? authorities, the network operator and the marked the transition from fresh to salt All these facets have to be addressed.’ This is energy suppliers? In the past, energy com water. After the inlet was closed off in 1970, where her Wageningen background comes panies used to generate the energy while there were no more tides and migratory fish in useful. ‘Before you form your opinion households would consume and pay for it. could no longer move freely between the and decide on your action plan, you first Now we need to develop a new allocation of river and the sea. ‘From 2018, the govern look at who is involved, what is at stake for roles. Horticultural businesses, farmers and ment will be opening the Haringvliet sluices them and what roles they have. I was taught private individuals are increasingly produc a crack. That is an opportunity to restore the a holistic approach in the degree ing energy, and all kinds of energy coopera dynamic delta ecosystem of the past,’ says programme.’ tives are being set up.’ Wagteveld. To do this, six nature organiza As a corporate strategist, Van Gorkum spots tions, including WNF, nature preservation GAVE UP JOB developments within the company and be society Natuurmonumenten and the As a child, Wagteveld was always outside yond, and advises on potential new business Netherlands Society for the Protection of and doing things with nature, plants and activities. These could be alternatives to gas Birds, received 13.5 million euros from the animals. After secondary school, she took consumption, such as constructing local National Postcode Lottery’s ‘Dream Fund’. a two-year course at a horticultural college. heat networks to use the residual heat pro ‘Each organization has its own projects, Then she studied Forest and Nature duced in factories. If the government makes such as a trial with shellfish banks, a project Management at Van Hall Larenstein univer changes to the gas and electricity legislation, for the return of the sturgeon and one for sity of applied sciences in Velp. After gradu

40 WAGENINGENWORLD LIFE AFTER WAGENINGEN

‘In Wageningen, I absorbed everything like a sponge’

ating in 2002, she got a job as a consultant up her permanent job to study further. ‘It with a small forestry consultancy. ‘I wrote was quite a big step, but Wageningen felt MIRJAM WAGTEVELD management plans but I used to wonder like a homecoming. I absorbed everything Age: 37 whether they were ever actually used. like a sponge and they challenged me to Studied: Master’s in Applied Did they lead to changes in forest manage develop my own opinion on nature issues.’ Communication Science 2004-2007 ment or did they just end up in the bottom The first cohort for this Master’s formed Works: Communication Manager drawer? I wanted to know how you could a small, close-knit group, recalls Wagteveld. for Haringvliet ‘Dream Fund’ project, persuade foresters to change the way they Courses such as the Management of for WNF in Zeist managed their woods.’ Change, taught by Noëlle Aarts, appealed Wagteveld heard that Wageningen to her. ‘It was about how to get people on University was starting a Master’s in Applied board when you want to start a change Communication Science. In 2004 she gave process.’ Wagteveld chose Rural Sociology >

WAGENINGENWORLD 41 ‘The calm surroundings will get the creativity flowing again’

as her minor. Her graduation project was Thailand, Australia and New Zealand and KIRSTEN VAN GORKUM about the Countryside Parliament, which then enrolled at the university of applied Age: 35 aims to give rural residents more of a say sciences in Utrecht to study Studied: Master’s in Applied in provincial policy. She interviewed par Communications Management. But she Communication Science 2004-2006 ticipants in Zeeland and Gelderland and missed the science subjects. So in 2004 she Works: Corporate Strategist studied the strategies people use to exert started the new Communication Master’s for Enexis holding company in power and influence. degree in Wageningen, which focused on Den Bosch technological development. Van Gorkum WELCOMING too felt at home in Wageningen straighta Like Wagteveld, Van Gorkum did not do way. ‘No one thought it strange when I ate a Bachelor’s degree at Wageningen. After pumpkin soup and spread hummus on my secondary school, she travelled around bread.’ She learned for example about how

42 WAGENINGENWORLD LIFE AFTER WAGENINGEN

WHERE DO COMMUNICATION SCIENTISTS END UP? The MSc programme in Communication Science, launched in 2006, has produced 137 graduates to date. As students, two thirds specialized in Communication and Innovation, while one third took the track in Health and Society, available since 2012. Currently 176 students are on the Master’s programme in Applied Communication Science. The graduates end up in communication consultancy firms, government bodies, NGOs, universities, multimedia companies and other branches of business. A survey of 77 graduates reveals that 18 percent have gone into research. 15 percent are working as communication advisors or staff, 13 percent as project managers, 6 percent as teachers and 4 percent in marketing. 13 percent work in other fields and nothing is known about the work situation of nearly one fifth of the graduates. Source: Communication Science programme at Wageningen University

people relate to one another in conflict in Overijssel. In spring 2015 she became be able to persuade people to adopt a healthier situations. ‘How do you reach a solution that a corporate strategist. or more sustainable lifestyle. But the human enjoys broad support when there is a hotch After Wagteveld obtained her degree in brain is rather more complex than that. potch of opinions and interests, for example communication, she got a job in early 2008 when dykes have to be strengthened?’ as a consultant working for Schuttelaar & ENJOYMENT For her graduation project, she spent three Partners, a communications consultancy Wagteveld does not have any predefined months studying three snack bars in in the fields of sustainability and health. goals. ‘I want to keep on developing and to Arnhem, where she was living at the time. She carried out projects for the public sector look for the appropriate challenges along the She spoke to the customers and investigated and the timber industry. ‘But I thought it a way. My father spent more than 40 years the added value of these eateries. ‘We asso shame that as a consultant I was often working for the province of Overijssel and ciate snack bars with an unhealthy diet, but standing on the sideline and not involved loved it. That’s what I want too: always to people also go there for comfort food.’ Van in projects over a longer period.’ be enjoying my work as well as doing some Gorkum discovered too that snack bars When the VVNH (Dutch association of thing to make the world a slightly better function as a place to meet up. People went timber companies) approached her in 2011 place.’ there to celebrate a children’s party or to get and asked if she wanted to work as a sus Van Gorkum, on the other hand, has a clear something off their chest, for example. tainability policy officer, she did not hesi plan for the future. Two years ago, she start ‘The snack bar in the working-class district tate. She managed to arrange a Green Deal ed a four-year yoga teacher-training course. was almost a kind of commune, and I was between the government and the timber ‘By developing my awareness of my body and fully accepted as one of them.’ industry, aimed at removing obstacles to the my intuition, I’ve become more creative and use of sustainable wood. ‘But the economic innovative,’ says Van Gorkum. She would WORKING IN THE FIELD crisis had a huge impact on the timber trade, like to encourage others too in their personal After graduating, Van Gorkum worked for which is closely linked to the construction development. To do this, she set up Bureau the Strategic Communication group in industry. If companies are struggling to Zaaigoed, her own business in which she Wageningen investigating the methods used keep afloat and their customers and con will be offering personal coaching and com by water boards, but she found she missed sumers are not willing to pay a penny more, pany training alongside her work for Enexis. working in the field. So in June 2008 she that unfortunately makes improving sustain In the future, she also plans to set up an joined Essent as a management trainee. ability tricky.’ She looked for a new job and ‘inspirational location’ in her home village of That same year, the company split into joined WNF almost a year ago. ‘The internal Diepenheim, in Twente. This will have small, Essent and the network operator Enexis. collaboration here is an enriching experi sustainably constructed cottages available One year later, she became a ‘biogas inno ence. I’m learning an awful lot.’ for short-term lets. It will also vator’ at Enexis, developing and managing What she sometimes finds difficult is that have a garden, or rather a garden centre with projects to do with sustainable gas. She also everyone thinks they know something about second-hand plants. These plants will be ob lobbied in The Hague, developed internal communication as a discipline. tained from people who want rid of them policy and helped with the implementation. ‘Communication is a specialist field, just and then smartened up, pruned and sold ‘Everything that fascinates me came like any other subject. Sometimes people on by the long-term unemployed or the together here: a complex puzzle in terms have already decided they need a brochure or disabled. ‘In the cottages and garden, of the content, deciding on the direction to film clip, without first asking who they want people can get away from the hectic world take and the human behaviour aspect.’ After to reach and what they want to achieve. with its overabundance of stimuli. The calm more than three years, she was appointed People also often assume rather too easily surroundings will let their creativity start manager of the gas and electricity network that as long as you have a good story, you’ll flowing again.’ W

WAGENINGENWORLD 43 Bridge-builder fosters diversity In March this year Niels Louwaars received the Outstanding Alumnus Award from University Fund Wageningen. Louwaars is a role model for professionals and researchers in the seed sector, said the jury. He manages to bring stakeholders together in this important sector for the Netherlands.

TEXT YVONNE DE HILSTER PHOTO BRAM BELLONI

t was good to hear that people think so impact of policy on seed systems in 2007. for other professionals in the Wageningen highly of him that they had taken the Between 1991 and 2011 he worked at various domain.’ troubleI to nominate him for the institutes in Wageningen, for the last Outstanding Alumnus Award, says Niels eight years of that period at the Centre NEVER BLACK AND WHITE Louwaars (1958). ‘But who am I to receive for Genetic Resources, the Netherlands. In 1975, Louwaars came to Wageningen that?’ he had wondered. Only after all the Louwaars was then appointed director of because he wanted to do ‘something green’. accolades and many warm responses after Plantum, the Dutch branch organization for ‘At secondary school I wrote an extended the award ceremony did he think on his plant propagation material (sowing seed, essay on the first world food conference way home: ‘how lovely’. The Alumnus seedlings and cuttings). in Rome in 1974. It might sound a bit Award is conferred once every three years The jury praised Louwaars for the way his pompous, but I wanted to be there and to on a mid-career alumnus who has achieved work contributes to collaboration between make a contribution.’ He opted for a degree something exceptional with his or her government, industry and research insti in Plant Breeding because that sounded nice ‘Wageningen’ expertise, serving as a role tutes. He is well-regarded internationally and difficult, with lots of mathematics and model. as a player in the field of seed systems, genetics involved. An elective course Louwaars graduated in Plant Breeding at plant breeding and intellectual property. on sociology offered him a typically Wageningen in 1982, and got a PhD on the ‘Niels is a bridge-builder and a role model Wageningen culture shock, in a positive sense. ‘We had to come up with a good question on the topic of the class. For a plant breeder who always had to come up UNIVERSITY FUND WAGENINGEN with the right answers, that was an The Outstanding Alumnus Award is one of the prizes with which the University Fund eye-opener.’ Wageningen rewards excellence. The prize is awarded every three years, taking Louwaars still tends to seek contact with turns with the Research Award and the Press Award. The Fund also awards the other disciplines because connecting Sustainable Entrepreneur Prize every three years. On an annual basis the teacher with other ways of thinking generates new of the year is announced and dissertation prizes are awarded. insights. He loves discussions. ‘Nothing is www.universityfund.wageningenUR.nl ever black and white, entirely good or bad. You have to try to understand each other

44 WAGENINGENWORLD UNIVERSITY FUND WAGENINGEN

material to its diversity. Each company is different in motivation, culture and strategy, so between them they serve all the niches of the market.’ Secondly, there are the exciting technological innovations. ‘All the molecular knowledge in plant breeding nowadays enables us to use a much bigger range of parent plants than we could 30 years ago, and to select interesting plants more

‘New methods are subject to close political scrutiny’

efficiently. Many new methods are subject to close political scrutiny, however. But what would we prefer: to grow a disease- resistant crop using new techniques or to spray it with pesticides 16 times? If you start regulating all the new methods, such as gene-editing techniques, in the same way as genetic modification (GM), you can only use those methods for the very large- scale crops in the world, so they will only be used by the biggest plant-breeding companies. Those are dilemmas that society needs to ponder.’ Much to Louwaars’ regret, knowledge about plant breeding among the general public is very limited, in spite of the enormous interest in food. ‘So how can you conduct a good public discussion about by seeing each other’s point of view. If you that you need with a view to changing breeding methods, for example? The word do that you don’t get embroiled in conflicts agricultural systems, addressing climate ‘natural’ is used a lot. But agriculture is not so easily. If that makes people call me a change and meeting consumer demands.’ natural. Nature would never plant 160,000 bridge-builder, that’s fine with me, but it bean plants on one hectare. Agriculture doesn’t mean I always seek consensus and FORCES FOR INNOVATION does make use of the laws of nature, in never take a position.’ Louwaars points out two important deve- the service of human beings. And plant Louwaars hopes, for instance, that the lopments in today’s seed sector. One is the breeding does that too.’ How do we create European Commission will draw up an concentration in the sector. ‘It brings forces the space for people to start discussion action plan to make sure patents on plants for innovation together and that is crucial, these important issues openly and help do not hamper innovation in plant breeding. but there are limits to it,’ says Louwaars. them come out of the trenches, wonders ‘Without access to genetic diversity you ‘The Dutch sector partly owes its position as Louwaars with a sigh. ‘There is a nice can’t make the improvements to crops the biggest exporter of plant propagation task for Wageningen there.’ W

WAGENINGENWORLD 45 DONATIONS FUNDS Leah from Uganda follows her dream of a Wageningen degree

The Anne van den Ban Fund has welcomed its 250th student since it started.

PHOTO GUY ACKERMANS In pursuit of her dream, Leah Nandudu (aged 24) from Uganda has come to Belmonte coach house Wageningen to study Plant Sciences. conversion The first few months in the Netherlands were tough, but Leah found her feet during The old coach house in Belmonte Arboretum the second term. ‘The teaching is different in Wageningen has undergone a metamor and they go at a fast pace,’ she says. ‘But phosis. The interior has been turned into a it’s great how the teachers make contact comfortable room with lots of light and with with the students and teach interactively an adjoining office-cum-shop. Alumni con so that you understand it and at the same tributed in large numbers to the costs of the time learn to think independently.’ conversion. The coach house is now available She opted to specialize in plant breeding,

for hire for festive events. The proceeds will a topic she became interested in during PHOTO GUY ACKERMANS contribute to the management of Belmonte her Bachelor’s in Agricultural Science in Leah Nandudu and help it become financially self-suppor Uganda. ‘Being able to improve a crop by ting. Info: [email protected] modifying the genes —that’s fantastic, community see now that it’s also possible isn’t it?’ What is more, she saw the need for women to go to university and live NETWORKS for crop improvements at first hand their dream.’ The next thing on her wish- during her field work: farmers growing list is a PhD. ‘But I’ll go back to work first. food crops worked on the land all day and Why keep learning more if you don’t use still had only meagre yields and incomes. what you know?’ As the daughter of a coffee farmer and The Anne van den Ban Fund makes it English teacher, she had never realized possible for promising students from this. developing countries and Eastern Europe ‘You can study plant breeding in Uganda, to study at Wageningen University. In Leah but I wanted to be taught by the best.’ Nandudu’s case, the fund collaborated A manager at her work at the International with the Paul Speijer Fund, which supports In the barn with Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Kampala African students taking a Master’s in FrieslandCampina turned out to have studied at Wageningen, Plant Sciences. which appealed to Leah. She would never in China have been able to come here to study Info: [email protected] On 20 March, 40 Wageningen alumni in without a grant, so Leah was delighted Prof. Anne van den Ban, who co-founded the China visited FrieslandCampina’s dairy farm when she heard the news from the Anne fund and also gave his name to it, passed away and training centre Zhongdi, an hour’s drive van den Ban Fund. ‘Girls from my on 7 May at the age of 88. See also page 49. from Beijing. The excursion was organized by the Wageningen alumni chapter in China REUNION and University Fund Wageningen. Presenta tions by FrieslandCampina, the Sino-Dutch 25 years and 50 years Dairy Development Centre (SDDDC) and Prem Bindraban of the Virtual Fertilizer Anyone who started their degree Research Centre were followed by a guided in Wageningen in 1966 or 1991 is tour. The alumni wanted to know about welcome to attend their reunion. subjects such as animal welfare, manure The reunion is on Saturday 22 management, feed rations and the milking October for alumni who enrolled system. In June, alumni will help guide 25 years ago and on Friday 5 Environmental Technology students round November for those who enrolled on their visit to Beijing. Info: [email protected] 50 years ago. Info: [email protected]

46 WAGENINGENWORLD ALUMNI

EDUCATION INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT Yoghurt to combat diarrhoea

Wageningen alumni Wilbert Sybesma (Molecular Sciences and Bioprocess Technology 1994, PhD 2003 with Willem de Vos as supervisor) and Remco Kort

PHOTO SVEN MENCHEL (Molecular Sciences 1994) have received a grant of 950,000 euros from the International Development Roel Dijksma voted Research Centre (IDRC) and Global Affairs Canada to expand the local production of probiotic yoghurt in Teacher of the Year Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Roel Dijksma (56), in the Hydrology and Quantitative Water For the yoghurt, the micro yoba 2012. In collaboration Management Group, was voted Wageningen University’s biologists use a probiotic with international colleagues Teacher of the Year 2016 in April. Students praised him for bacterium for which the and the Dutch company CSK being approachable and having a sense of humour and patent has expired. They have Food Enrichment, they deve feeling for the group. called it Lactobacillus rhamnosus loped a new, freeze-dried and affordable starter culture that ‘Dijksma is enthusiastic, knows ‘I think you should be authentic. can turn milk into yoghurt. how to motivate students, plays It’s nice to chat to students in The probiotic yoghurt can an active part in the Earth dividually during practicals and reduce the duration and seve Drilling Championship and excursions. If I’m open, my stu rity of diarrhoea associated attends lectures by colleagues dents will be too. Spontaneous with rotavirus. Diarrhoea is to see what he can learn from humour is also important as it one of the main causes of them,’ wrote the jury in its ex helps defuse potential conflicts.’ child mortality in Africa. planation of its choice. ‘He also The University Fund Wageningen The yoghurt is already being always turns the information wants to use the Teacher of the produced and sold in 40 small into a story so that everyone can Year Award to encourage high- communities in Uganda. understand the material, and he quality teaching. Votes by stu Sybesma works for Nestlé listens to you,’ adds his former dents determined the longlist, Research and Kort for TNO/ student Tjitske Geertsema, who from which a student jury selec VU University Amsterdam. is now a PhD candidate with ted the shortlist and the winner. The research and implemen Dijksma as her co-supervisor. The five teachers on the shortlist tation take place under the Students also appreciate the fact were all given 2,500 euros to auspices of the Yoba for Life that he is true to himself, says the use in teaching. foundation.

jury. Dijksma recognizes this. Info: [email protected] PHOTO YOBA FOR LIFE Info: www.yoba4life.com.

FACEBOOK New: Humans of Wageningen ‘I have seen a lot of changes Facebook page Humans of New I’m a PhD candidate in Human since I started studying in York. Nutrition. I work on protein- Wageningen in 2006 but I still From staff, students and alumni enriched food products with sometimes get shivers down to the bus driver who drives the the aim of preventing malnou my spine when I cycle through bus through campus, the diver rishment in the elderly. So my campus,’ says Canan Ziylan sity of the people who have links research makes a small contribu Canan Ziylan (Nutrition and Health 2011) on to the university is immense. The tion to society. If research is to the Humans of Wageningen Facebook page wants to showcase be visible for everybody, I think If you also want to talk about your Facebook page. This new page all those stories.‘I was born and it’s really important as a scientist bond with Wageningen University, send was inspired by the popular raised in Amersfoort and now to be active on social media.’ an email to [email protected].

WAGENINGENWORLD 47 PERSONALIA

Maurice Adriaens MSc, WU Tropical Prof. Henk Bovenhuis, WU Zootechnics Niels Louwaars PhD, WU Plant Breeding Plant Breeding 1989, has been appointed 1987, has been appointed professor 1982, has received the Outstanding Director of Tourism with the Tourism holding a personal chair in Animal Breeding Alumnus Award.9 March 2016. See also Corporation Bonaire (TCB). 17 February and Genetics at Wageningen University. page 44. 2016. 1 January 2016. Prof. Peter Oosterveer, WU Rural Angeline de Beaufort MSc, WU Tropical Prof. Simon Bush, University of Sydney, Sociology of the Western Regions 1982, Plant Breeding 1975, has been given the Australia PhD 2005, professor holding has been appointed professor holding Europe Award for Lifetime Achievement in a personal chair in Global Fisheries a personal chair in the Environmental Lifecycle Assessment 2016 by the Society and Aquaculture Governance, has been Policy group at Wageningen University. of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry appointed professor of Environmental (SETAC). 25 May 2016. Policy. 1 June 2016. Willem Ravensberg PhD, Leiden University Biology 1981 and WU PhD Prof. Frank Berendse, WU Biology Kim Calders PhD, WU PhD 2014, has 2010, has been appointed president 1977, was made an Officer in the Order of won the Robert May Prize for the best of BioProtection Global, formerly the Oranje-Nassau for his ‘inexhaustible, enthu- paper by an early career researcher in Federation of Biocontrol and Biopesticide siastic work for the conservation of nature Methods in Ecology and Evolution. Associations. 2 February 2016. in the widest sense’, on his retirement as 30 March 2016. professor of Nature Conservation and Prof. Esther Turnhout, VU University Plant Ecology. 5 April 2016. Prof. Bart Gremmen, WU PhD 1993, Amsterdam Environmental Sciences 1996, professor by special appointment in Ethics associate professor in the Forest and of Life Sciences, has been appointed Nature Management group, has been professor holding a personal chair in the appointed professor holding a personal Philosophy group.1 January 2016. chair.1 January 2016.

Inge Grimm MSc, Erasmus University Prof. Emely de Vet, associate professor

PHOTO GUY ACKERMANS Rotterdam Sociology 1999, has been in the Strategic Communication group, Frank Berendse appointed Director of Operations at ESG. has been appointed professor holding 1 March 2016. a personal chair.1 January 2016.

Jos Bijman PhD, University of Amsterdam Jonathan Jukema MSc, WU Tropical PRIZES Political Sciences 1988, associate profes- Plant Breeding 1989, has been appointed sor in the Management Sciences group, managing director of the Curaçao Monu has been awarded the International Science ments Fund Foundation. 1 October 2015. Prize by the Association of Cooperative Studies Institutes (AGI) for his research Prof. Gert Kema, WU Plant Breeding and publications on cooperatives. 1991, working in the Laboratory of February 2016. Phytopathology at Wageningen University, has been appointed professor by special Remco Bosma MSc, WU Environ appointment in Tropical Phytopathology. mental Protection (Water Purification) 1 January 2016. 1997, is a member of the Dutch Parliament Excellent Master’s theses (Lower House) for the VVD party with the Colin Khoury, WU PhD candidate, has The UFW-KLV Thesis Award, a prize given ICT, postal services, biotechnology and received the Hugo de Vries Award 2015 by Wageningen University Fund for excellent horticulture portfolio.1 March 2016. for the best PhD thesis on a botanical sub- theses or publications in the Master’s phase ject at a Dutch university. 11 April 2016. of a study at Wageningen University, has been awarded this year to: Prof. Carolien Kroeze, University of - Shengle Huang, Environmental Sciences Amsterdam PhD 1993, professor holding - Bas Groeneveld, Management, a personal chair in the Environmental Economics & Consumer Studies Systems Analysis group, has been - Michiel Karrenbelt, Bioinformatics & appointed professor of Water Systems Biotechnology Remco Bosma and Global Change. 1 April 2016. - Annelieke Wentzel, Animal sciences

48 WAGENINGENWORLD ALUMNI

IN MEMORIAM

Prof. Anne van den Ban, the founding father of rural extension in Wageningen, has passed away at the age of 88. Anne van den Ban established the discipline of rural extension at Wageningen. Working partly for UNESCO, he gave advice in more than 25 developing countries and Eastern European countries. In 1992, Van den Ban and G.J. Kerkhoven set up the Stichting Redelijk Studeren (affordable

study foundation), which was later PHOTO GUY ACKERMANS renamed the Anne van den Ban Fund Foundation. The fund gives financial sup- ping countries for a study in Wageningen. donors and provides support for about port to Master’s students from develo- The fund currently has almost 1000 20 students each year.

Alumni of Wageningen University, KLV members, staff and former employees H.M. van den Hoofdakker LL.M., of Wageningen UR who have recently passed away. If you wish to inform us of a former member of the Executive Board the death of a fellow former student or relative, you can email [email protected] of Wageningen UR, has passed away at the or call +31 (0)317-485191. age of 79. He worked for the Agricultural College, later the Agricultural University, Mr W. Aukema MSc, Mr W. Nieuwboer MSc, WU Dairy for 27 years. He was in charge of General WU Agricultural Plant Breeding 1956. Production 1957. Date unknown. Studies, head of Human Resources, board 6 November 2015. Mr J.B. van der Pas MSc, WU Forestry secretary and eventually vice chair of the Mr J.H. Boumans MSc, WU Land 1969.31 January 2016. Executive Board. He stepped down in 1996, Development 1949. 10 June 2015. Mr B.K. Riemeijer MSc, WU during the administrative merger of the Ms A.C. van den Broek, WU MSc Environmental Protection (Water university with DLO. 27 February 2016. student Economics and Policy. Purification) 1988. 24 February 2016. 16 February 2016. Mr P.M. Schaper MSc, WU Horticulture Mr A. Coops MSc, WU Forestry 1956. 1956. 12 March 2016. 7 January 2016. Mr van der Schot MSc, WU Rural Mr D.A. Ehlhardt MSc, Economics 1969. 28 February 2016. WU Zootechnics 1962. 1 February 2016. Mr D.R. Sibie MSc, WU Tropical Land

Mr F.W. van Ginkel PhD, WU Biology Development 1974. PHOTO GUY ACKERMANS 1984. 20 February 2016. 20 November 2015. Henk van den Hoofdakker Mr R.H. Hamster MSc, WU Food Mr C. de Vogel MSc, WU Land Technology 1970. 19 November 2015. Development 1989. Horticultural specialist Bram Steiner Mr G.F. Israel MSc, WU Tropical Plant 18 April 2016. BSc, honorary member of KLV, has Breeding 1952. Mr J.J.M. Voskens MSc, WU Landscape passed away at the age of 95. He was a 20 February 2016. Architecture 1974. founding father of substrate cultivation for Mr P.C.M. Jansen PhD, WU Tropical 12 February 2016. horticultural crops, a revolutionary method Plant Breeding 1974. Ms S. de Vries MSc, WU Biology 1990. which helped increase production, improve 9 March 2016. 7 March 2016. quality and reduce water and fertilizer Mr B. Langendoen MSc, WU Tropical Mr P.W.F. de Waard PhD, WU Tropical inputs. 1 March 2016. Animal Husbandry 1969. Plant Breeding 1956. 17 February 2016 25 October 2015. Mr G.J. Willering MSc, WU Tropical Mr P.J. Mathot MSc, WU Food Animal Husbandry 1953. Technology 1972. 14 March 2016. 8 January 2016. Mr R.J. van Meerten MSc, WU Tropical Mr S. Zwerver MSc, WU Agricultural Forestry 1947. 25 March 2016. Plant Breeding 1966. 9 February 2016. Bram Steiner

WAGENINGENWORLD 49 Foto: Guy Ackermans

The Minister has indicated that for the Wageningen contribute to that? innovations can contribute to this.” time being no further steps will be taken De Haas: “A clear signal that has emerged Hallie: “This meeting also revealed that with respect to revising the current coastal is people’s lack of trust in the municipality it was not purely a technical question. policy. “The parties need to resume the and province. And that concern is partly It concerns values related to nature, discussions,” says Hallie. “A coast pact will justiﬁ ed as well: in this difﬁ cult economic amenities and recreation. And these be formed before the summer, which will period, a municipality can easily be put can enhance or hinder each other. How expressly consider the shared values about under pressure by a large project developer can you deal smartly with the different the coast.” who promises jobs with a holiday park. stakeholders when considering these As there is an inequality in power and issues? How do you gain a picture of who Knowledge from Wageningen interests, it is vital to genuinely involve the stakeholders are and how do you How can you prevent this situation from all parties. Research from Wageningen involve them? That knowledge can be arising again? And how can knowledge from into participation processes and social obtained from Wageningen!” “How do you look back at KLV Impuls?” INIAIN

municipalities a greater say about building 100,000 signatures. The media turned this “An effi cient realisation is actually only Discussion leader Jannemarie de Jonge: 20 June along the coast. “A logical step in the into an issue and a debate followed in the possible if you agree with each other. If “About 30 people were present. This was a pleasant group size in which everybody General Assembly of KLV process of decentralising spatial planning. Dutch House of Representatives. Hallie: a discussion is held about ‘what we fi nd who wanted to could have his or her say. This was exactly what we intended with 24 August And in effect a legal elaboration of that “We were taken by surprise, because the important’ then during the initial stages KLV Impuls: a debate about a publicly interesting theme with a mix of participants KLV & AID 2016 intended line of policy, nothing more, change in policy was not in the slightest bit of the discussion, policy frameworks that crosses the boundaries of disciplines and age groups.” KLV is present on information market nothing less,” explains Frank Hallie, about this issue! We had held discussions and policy areas are not at all relevant, of the Annual Introduction Days policy offi cer for the coast at the Ministry with a large number of organisations but because with that focus, a political Caroline Bijkerk, alumni offi cer: of Infrastructure and the Environment. clearly not well enough.” problem is reduced to a management “And such a KLV Impuls event can lead to interesting contacts. After the meeting, The government focuses on the national issue. That is an oversimplifi cation that one of the students present asked if she could be brought into contact with Frank interest – in this case the safety of the Icon not suitable for an implementation does not work. My personal position is: Hallie, as she wanted to make a contribution to the values research for coast pact. coast – and provinces and municipalities decision values like this that play a role at the They recently spoke to each other!” are allowed to decide about issues such as “Apparently we consider the Dutch coast national level also require decisions at the number of beach huts, for example. to be a matter of national importance, the national level.”

50 WAGENINGENWORLD WAN EE A EE Foto: Guy Ackermans

KLV

Frank Hallie, speaker and policymaker at the Ministry of Infrastructure and the If you check our KLV Facebook page on Environment: a regularly base, you will be informed “I encountered a committed public and although they were all from the ‘anti- what KLV has been up to and what we corner’, they came with good arguments. I gained some useful tips, such as the are working on. This way you will keep KLV Impuls about the commotion and how knowledge question: how will you include the general public in the subsequent stages of the in touch with the alumni association of from Wageningen can help to resolve this issue process? We are considering a public website, for example, and I will hold further your Wageningen University. Of course discussions with Wim de Haas.” you are welcome to post your own interesting status updates too. More than 100,000 people recently signed the petition ‘Protect the coast’ because they were concerned about the Minister for Participant Huib Ghijsen, lawyer, came all the way from Middelburg to Wageningen Infrastructure and Environment’s intention to loosen up the rules for building along the coast. This commotion came as something for KLV Impuls: Join KLVNetwork! of a surprise. Where did it come from and what can policy makers learn from this? And how can knowledge from Wageningen contri- “In Zeeland this subject is very much on the agenda. It really does grab me as bute to that? This was the theme of the KLV Impuls event held on 31 March. an individual. If you release part of the coast for building projects then you give www.facebook.com/klvnetwork away something that belongs to everybody. As a lawyer I have investigated various What was all the fuss about? It is a minor point, especially as almost an icon for the Netherlands with a large aspects of this issue to ensure that I really know my stuff. I am very pleased that In mid-December 2015, the petition the entire coastline is a protected area symbolic value. Policy aimed solely at KLV is devoting attention to this theme to help raise awareness about it among both beschermdekust.nl was launched. It was where no buildings may be constructed effi ciency in the decision-making process citizens and policymakers. How have I benefi ted from the evening? Although I did AIIIE a reaction to the intention of the Minister anyway. Just before the debate with the collides with this category of major not obtain a lot of new insights, I have defi nitely gained some valuable contacts. I for Infrastructure and the Environment Dutch House of Representatives on 21 values,” says Wim de Haas, researcher want to phone Frank Hallie again soon to keep track of how things are developing!” Info: klv.nl/en (unless indicated otherwise) (Melanie Schulz) to give provinces and January 2016, the petition already had in governance and planning at Alterra. municipalities a greater say about building 100,000 signatures. The media turned this “An effi cient realisation is actually only Discussion leader Jannemarie de Jonge: 20 June along the coast. “A logical step in the into an issue and a debate followed in the possible if you agree with each other. If “About 30 people were present. This was a pleasant group size in which everybody General Assembly of KLV process of decentralising spatial planning. Dutch House of Representatives. Hallie: a discussion is held about ‘what we fi nd who wanted to could have his or her say. This was exactly what we intended with 24 August And in effect a legal elaboration of that “We were taken by surprise, because the important’ then during the initial stages KLV Impuls: a debate about a publicly interesting theme with a mix of participants KLV & AID 2016 intended line of policy, nothing more, change in policy was not in the slightest bit of the discussion, policy frameworks that crosses the boundaries of disciplines and age groups.” KLV is present on information market nothing less,” explains Frank Hallie, about this issue! We had held discussions and policy areas are not at all relevant, of the Annual Introduction Days policy offi cer for the coast at the Ministry with a large number of organisations but because with that focus, a political Caroline Bijkerk, alumni offi cer: of Infrastructure and the Environment. clearly not well enough.” problem is reduced to a management “And such a KLV Impuls event can lead to interesting contacts. After the meeting, The government focuses on the national issue. That is an oversimplifi cation that one of the students present asked if she could be brought into contact with Frank interest – in this case the safety of the Icon not suitable for an implementation does not work. My personal position is: Hallie, as she wanted to make a contribution to the values research for coast pact. coast – and provinces and municipalities decision values like this that play a role at the They recently spoke to each other!” are allowed to decide about issues such as “Apparently we consider the Dutch coast national level also require decisions at the number of beach huts, for example. to be a matter of national importance, the national level.”

WAN EEWAGENINGEN A WORLDEE51 the rivers thatfeedthelake fordrinkingand Science group. Because wateristakenfrom is doingresearch Systems withtheEarth doctoral researcher SomayehShadkam, who is smallerthanexpected,’thinks the Iranian climate changeinthecourseofthis century ‘That willonlybepossibleifthedegree of Turkey, Iraqand Azerbaijancanstillbesaved. Lake UrmiainIran,neartheborder with It istouchandgowhetherthelarge saltwater lake Iran in salt change threatens Climate border zone.’So theIranian government is hoods of75million peopleinanalready tense ‘The dryingupof thelakeendangersliveli- ofsaltstorms. a thicklayerofsalt, thestuff peared. Asthewaterrecedes itleaves behind are characteristic forthelakehavedisap- that that eventhefairyshrimpsandflamingos decades. Anditssalinityhasgone upsomuch lake hasshrunkby80percent inthepastfew ofthe irrigation purposes,thewatersurface Info: [email protected] campaign. Info: Now theyare working togetheronajointplan leagues paidavisit totheIranianauthorities. calls foradaptation.’ InAprilsheandhercol- more inthisarea watershortages andthat account intheplanning.There are more and ‘Climate changehasnotbeentaken into tion waterby40percent, saysShadkam. example planstocutdowntheuse ofirriga- very keentosavethelake,andthere are for WAGENINGEN INTHEWORLD W PHOTO HAMED HADHDOUST