Countries take new measures to counter food imports

THE NETHERLANDS, WITH ITS moderate climate, may seem like an odd place to grow heatloving soybeans.

But just a few decades ago, that’s what people said about Ontario, too – and soybeans have become the province’s major field crop, expected to top three million acres this year.

That’s thanks mainly to research, from our very region. Back in the 1960s, budding farmer Peter Hannam of Guelph was a student in the Ontario Agricultural College, where his plant science professor told him soybeans would never be grown as far north as Ontario. Never say never! Hannam took that as a personal challenge. Through the 1970s and 1980s, he went on to lead research efforts in shortseason, high-yielding soybeans, started his own company with a group of other farmers called First Line Seeds, and basically revolutionized crop production in Ontario in a very brief time.

Some people will point to climate change as a driving factor in soybeans’ popularity. But Hannam and his group were active in the industry developing new varieties for Ontario well in advance of the current talk about climate change.

Ontario’s level of soybean acreage is not in the cards for The Netherlands. But a group of about 90 producers who think soybeans have potential in rotation with potatoes are growing 475 hectares of

conventional, non-GMO varieties this season.

On a recent media tour, agricultural journalists (including me) visited a soybean field that – despite a significant drought in Europe – appeared healthy, productive and enjoying the unusually high temperatures there.

Behind it all is the co-op Royal Agrifirm. The company started promoting soybeans back in 2013, with just nine growers and 30 hectares of land. Now it offers four different varieties to farmers, expanding its catalogue from soybeans that were early maturing to those now that are high yielding, up to 4,400 kg. per hectare. Farmers in three more regions are planning to grow soybeans next year.

“Farmers say the crop is stronger than summer wheat or other crops,” says soybean project manager Henk Vermeer of Agrifirm. “They’re very curious about it. Most of them have never seen it, so we teach them about it. I believe soy has the potential to be of solid value in Dutch cultivation plans.”

More than three-quarters of the production is going to a company called Alpro for soy-based beverages and plant-based food. The rest goes for livestock feed.

Dutch soybeans are lucrative, selling for about 500 Euros per ton. But to no one’s surprise, the crop is experiencing some growing pains.

For example, a fungal disease called sclerotinia, in areas where potato production is intense, affects soybeans in the Netherlands. Some growers there experienced lodging (marked by plant stalks collapsing in the field) from rain, following a drought there. Even within fields, there were large differences in the colour and condition of the beans.

But producers are being patient. Soybeans fix their own nitrogen, which is a huge plus for farmers in any country – but particularly in a European country like the Netherlands, where the ecological footprint of any crop is closely watched and where nitrogen use is a sensitive topic.

Plus, the fact the Dutch soybeans are non-GMO strikes a chord with consumers. And getting homegrown soy lessens their dependence on imports. As U.S. President Donald Trump strikes up global trade wars with everyone within swinging distance, it’s understandable why countries want to move towards food sovereignty and develop their homegrown sector.

Watch for more imaginative ways that research will trump politics.