Expedition Agroparks Research by Design Into Sustainable Development and Agriculture in the Network Society Peter J.A.M
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Expedition agroparks Research by design into sustainable development and agriculture in the network society Peter J.A.M. Smeets Expedition agroparks Expedition agroparks Research by design into sustainable development and agriculture in the network society Peter J.A.M. Smeets Wageningen Academic Publishers This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned. Nothing from this publication may be translated, reproduced, stored in a computerised system or published in any form or in any manner, including electronic, mechanical, reprographic or photographic, without prior written permission from the publisher: Wageningen Academic Publishers P.O. Box 220 6700 AE Wageningen The Netherlands ISBN: 978-90-8686-163-7 www.WageningenAcademic.com e-ISBN: 978-90-8686-719-6 [email protected] DOI: 10.3921/978-90-8686-719-6 The content of this publication and any liabilities arising from it remain the responsibility of the First published, 2011 author. The publisher is not responsible for possible © Wageningen Academic Publishers damages, which could be a result of content The Netherlands, 2011 derived from this publication. Table of contents Preface Acknowledgements Summary . Context, aim and method of this book . Te network society . Delta metropolises . Agriculture in the network society . Teoretical starting points in research by design . Research by design applied to agroparks . Discussion . Context, aim and method . Scientific objective . Method . Reading guide . Te network society . Te emergence of the network society . Time and space in the network society . Te environmental movement’ as a synthesis of spaces of flows and spaces of places . Spatial development policy . Delta metropolises . Te historical development of cities: centralisation and dispersal . Polycentric mega city regions . Spatial planning of metropolises in the network society . Delta metropolises . Te Northwest European delta metropolis . Agriculture in the network society . Mega-trends in the urbanised network society . Agriculture in the network society . Spatial planning of agriculture in the network society Expedition agroparks 7 Table of contents . Teoretical starting points in research by design . Research by design . Teoretical production ecology and the De Wit curve . Landscape ecological theory and the three dimensions of landscape . Te design process during design and implementation . Research by design on agroparks . Definition of agroparks . Deltapark . Agrocentrum Westpoort .. New Mixed Farm . WAZ-Holland Park . Biopark Terneuzen . Greenport Shanghai . IFFCO-Greenport Nellore . Iterative testing of the resulting hypotheses . Conclusions from research by design . Discussion . Resource use efficiency of metropolitan foodclusters . Landscape theory . Methodical elaboration . Greenport Holland . Te knowledge infrastructure of Greenport Holland References About the author Keyword index 8 Expedition agroparks Preface Tis book is the result of several years of expedition into uncharted territory by the author Peter Smeets. His fascination for the Dutch agricultural landscapes led him to the conclusion that improving the efficiency of agriculture is the most effective way to safeguard the quality of such landscapes. Te wasteful modes of production developed in the past 150 years have led to a serious decline in both the surface area and the quality of the high valued landscapes. Closing the loops within the agricultural production system and increasing their productivity is therefore the best remedy to arrest this decline. Closing loops and increasing productivity is something that forms the very foundation of agriculture, viewed at systems level. Agriculture is nothing more than making productive use of the natural processes of photosynthesis and nutrient-cycling. So, restoring these cycles within the agricultural production system and increaing their productivity became the aim of the expedition. By combining different modes of agricultural production, i.e. by coupling plants and animals in cycles that at the end of the day have few if any leftovers, waste will be a thing of the past, energy consumption will be minimised, and the productive use of the land maximised. Tis is the basic concept underpinning the development of agroparks: new combinations of agricultural production in a confined region that make it possible to close loops and optimize the efficient use of inputs. By developing agroparks in urbanized or metropolitan areas, other forms of more extensive or recreational land use and landscape conservation become possible. Smeets carried out a substantial part of his expedition while working with the TransForum innovation organization. His ideas fitted in closely with the objectives TransForum was working on: to show that the more sustainable development of agriculture is possible and to illustrate how current and future knowledge can contribute to that development. Te agroparks that Smeets describes in this study are all examples of what one might call ‘sustainable intensification’. It is about intensification in terms of ‘doing more with less’, but it is also a step towards more sustainable development by eliminating wastage and reducing the negative impact of agriculture on its physical, social and natural environment. For everybody involved in the challenging endeavour of improving agriculture and opening up a new future, I very much recommend reading this book. It contains inspiring examples of new and promising pathways for agriculture that will help shape the future, not only of agriculture but also of our landscapes and green space. Dr. Henk C. van Latesteijn General Manager, TransForum Expedition agroparks 9 Acknowledgements Te plan for writing this book is now more than 12 years old. When, in 1996, the opportunity arose to work extra hours to save up for a sabbatical leave, I seized it with the ambition of being able to write this publication after 7 years’ saving, and building up the knowledge required for it until that time. Te basis for the content of the book had already been laid in the years before when I worked at the former Rijksplanologische Dienst (Physical Planning Agency) on the Rural Areas and Europe project. Research by design, co-design, action research, these are all perfect words for the methodology used in this thesis, but also for the way in which we dealt at that time with spatial planning under the inspirational leadership of Peter Dauvellier and Hans Leeflang and in the project group with Frans Bethe, Emmy Bolsius, the late Jan Groen, Yvonne van Bentum, Lilian van den Aarsen and Marcel Wijermans. Te plan was there, but in the daily practice of integral management of Centrum Landschap, it could only lie dormant. However, as a manager in the years from 1996 to 2004 I did succeed in inspiring on an intrinsic level, and working in a culture in which entrepreneurial researchers took responsibility for the content they wanted to develop. An important stimulus for me was working in the Tink Tank on the Pig Sector with Ge Backus, Jan Blom, Johan van Bommel, Arjen Bonthuis, Herman Bosman, Teo Coppens, Eric Daandels, Henk de Lange, Bennar Dirven, the late Jaap Frouws, Anton Hilhorst, Chris Hoeven, Teo Holleman, Chris Kalden, Jan Melis, Huub Nooijen, Ad Romme, Arjan Schutte, Bennie Steentjes, Eric Tijssen, John van Paassen, Dick van Zaane, Kees Veerman, Hans Verhoeven, Rene Vermunt, Peter Vingerling, Teo Vogelzang, Chris Wijsman, Marcel Zandbelt and Wijno Zwanenburg. In my experience the Tink Tank was the first time that science stepped out of the academic world into society, to really get a system innovation going together with entrepreneurs, community groups and governments. In the Tink Tank I learned first and foremost that despite all the criticism, which certainly at that time was aimed at livestock farming in the Netherlands, this latter is at the same time and precisely because of this criticism, the best in the world. With the budget that Wageningen UR made available from 2000 for strategic knowledge development, we set up the Regional Dialogue and proceeded with the research by design in a practice of transdisciplinarity. In the background, Dick van Zaane stimulated the innovation, which we wanted to be involved in, first in Zeeland and then in North Limburg. Te list of active participants in the report on the Regional Dialogue North Limburg fills two pages but Jan Ammerlaan, Frans Bethe, Jannemarie de Jonge, Klaas de Poel, Romé Fasol, Eric Frijters, Hans Hillebrandt, the late Jan Heurkens, Paul Kersten, Raymond Knops, Gé Peterink, Marcel Pleijte, Maarten Souer, Hans Sprangers, Paul Stelder, Jan van de Munnickhof, Madeleine van Mansfeld, Peter Expedition agroparks 11 Acknowledgements van Weel, Mark Verheyen, Marcel Wijermans and Annoesjka Wintjes still remain in my memory as inspirers. Together we stood in North Limburg on the site of what has since evolved into Greenport Venlo, a region which the whole world comes to see as an example of modern agrologistics and which will house the Floriade in 2012. When we began, the joint problem as perceived was a regional inferiority complex. Now we from our side are justifiably proud that we are still able to be part of the process. In 2002 the Innovatienetwerk Groene Ruimte en Agrocluster (Innovation Network) arose from the former NRLO. Te spiritual father of Innonet, A.P. Verkaik supported our work in North Limburg from the word go, and within Innovation Network Jan