Research Blog

Since Wageningen has been championing Science for Impact, there has been a dramatic increase in criticism of research. Not only in relation to the subject matter, but also (and more importantly) the interests and emotions surrounding research have been heavily under fire. Logical, says Professor of Communication Wijfjes in Resource no.5; it’s only to be expected when conducting socially-relevant research, which obviously deals with socially-sensitive issues. Although this is true, there is still the question of why Wageningen UR researchers are personally torn to shreds, particularly in the social media such as blogs and Twitter and on Facebook and YouTube. Criticism does sometimes focus on the content of research, but insults are also aimed at the researcher in person.

In just a couple of weeks the world’s population will hit 7 billion. This figure gives little cause for satisfaction – and becomes all the more alarming on learning that by mid-century the population is expected to reach no less than 9 billion. However, I have young children, so I can’t afford to be pessimistic.

Last week, the Dutch research world was startled by the revelation of a serious case of fraud (article in Dutch only). The data used in psychological research turned out to be fictitious. My position is that the widespread use of the computer leads to ‘creative research,’ but that it can also contribute to the prevention of fraud. In fact, the good use of digital media can improve the quality of research.

Driving along Dutch roads this summer, I am once again thrilled by the colourful hedgerows and verges. The yellow shades of the tansy, evening primrose and rape are abundantly evident, but ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris) is by far the dominant plant. What is it about this plant that gives our ‘pleasure’ a nasty after-taste?

In early 2011, I predicted that food prices would stay in the news this year. The first half of 2011 has proved me right. World food prices peaked at the start of 2011 and although they have since dropped slightly, according to the FAO, the overall price level is still higher than during the ‘food price crisis’ of 2008. Unfortunately, food prices have once again hit the headlines because of the famine in East Africa: the high prices are only exacerbating the situation there.

Do the government’s latest plans for the environment offer new opportunities for innovative conservation, or do they represent the end of the Dutch countryside? Fierce discussion has been raging in recent months regarding cutbacks planned in the Dutch environmental policy. The new Dutch term to come out of this is ‘verblekering’ or ‘bleaching’ of the countryside - wordplay on the surname of the Dutch agricultural minister Henk Bleker, meaning ‘bleacher’. The term refers to the results of the cuts: reducing the size of the national ecological network, freezing the land acquisition that accompanies it, abandoning plans for connecting zones, reducing the influence of nature conservation groups, and offering farmers and businesses more scope in their contribution to the management of the countryside. ‘Nature should be given back to the people’, says Bleker, without indicating what it is he means exactly.

If we don’t want to turn every square metre of the countryside into farmland then we’re going to need sustainable production methods for both food and energy. Algae are set to provide us with oil and proteins as a source of food and energy.
Biofuels such as palm oil and rapeseed oil have given rise to considerable debate concerning sustainability, negative impact on biodiversity and competition with food crops. As an alternative, the cultivation of algae is certain to play an important role in making society both greener and more sustainable. Algae can be cultivated very efficiently in seawater in places otherwise unsuitable for agriculture, with no adverse effects on the environment.

In the long term, the only way to realise promising and sustainable agriculture and horticulture is by finding innovative ways of keeping the use of various aids (such as agro-chemicals, energy and water) to a minimum and optimising the deployment of other resources (such as ground and labour). The development and implementation of precision farming could be of overriding importance in this respect. The technology is already appearing here and there. If more progress is made in designing sensors and the software needed to interpret and apply the data from the sensors, precision farming could really break through within a few years, with the Netherlands leading the way.

Some time ago, I was interviewed by a journalist from the EenVandaag current affairs programme. (View the broadcast, in Dutch) She was making a series of reports about the problems of using antibiotics in livestock farming. The uncurbed use of antibiotics (mainly as a preventive measure and as a growth enhancer) has led to more and more bacteria becoming resistant. In some cases, the problem of resistance can even affect humans. The ‘success’ of the MRSA bacteria is a good example. So we really need to change the way we use antibiotics and look for alternatives. The sector and politicians are now convinced of this need.

In a spring marred by the chilling wind of government cuts, plans proposed by Mark Rutte’s cabinet have shaken the nature sector to its roots. A radical overhaul of policy on nature is proposed, which will wipe out the priority for EHS (the national ecological infrastructure) and the planned ecological linking of conservation areas. In November, Bas Arts blogged his concern that that the nature sector was suffering from an overdose of rules and regulations in conservation areas and diminishing support from citizens and businesses, as well as itself being too eco-centric and lacking in social and political commitment.

Spring is here again! It’s a wonderful time of year for many, as the winter is finally behind us and the lambs are out in the fields. For others – and there are a great many such people (in total around 25-30% of the population) – this beautiful season is accompanied by a disadvantage: it’s hay-fever time! Allergy strikes again. And allergies are not always limited to pollen! Whereas most respiratory allergies give rise to symptoms that can be described as ‘fairly unpleasant,’ severe cases of food allergies (such as peanut or shellfish allergies) can be life-threatening. There is therefore every reason to search for solutions!

The problems involved with megastalls (very large scale animal housing) do not only relate to agriculture. They also, and perhaps primarily, involve spatial planning. The choice of location is extremely important. Each step towards an increase in scale meets resistance, because the traditional agricultural function of rural areas is now partially determined by other social functions. The public increasingly wants more say in how ‘our’ countryside is used.

It is ten years since the Netherlands was hit by an outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD). FMD is a highly contagious viral disease of animals which still occurs in many places in the world. When FMD is discovered in a country that used to be free of the disease, other countries will not accept animals and animal products from that country for a long time. For a country like the Netherlands which is very dependent on exports of animal products, an outbreak of FMD will have serious consequences.
A month before the outbreak in the Netherlands in 2001, FMD was discovered in the United Kingdom. The Netherlands was immediately put on alert and extra measures were taken to prevent the introduction and transmission of the disease. Despite all its efforts, it could not prevent FMD being discovered on a Dutch farm on 21 March 2001. The fact that the outbreak ultimately remained limited in the Netherlands to 26 infected farms and only lasted a month is largely thanks to the stringent measures taken to tackle the outbreak.

It may seem like a drop in the ocean, but we don’t see it that way – reducing the use of mice and rats as test animals by 300,000 per year. The case in question is the routine investigation of shellfish for the presence of toxins that can cause diarrhoea. In the Netherlands, such tests are still being performed on rats until May 2011, after which the use of rats for this purpose will be a thing of the past and a chemical test will be used instead. The new test will not only spare Dutch rats but, across the whole of the EU, also approximately 300,000 mice per year. It has taken years to develop and validate the chemical method and convince policymakers that the legislation needed to be modified.

The website beroepseer.nl features various stories from people who no longer enjoy working in healthcare and who want to see the dignity of the profession restored. A job in the healthcare sector is no easy option. The growing emphasis on cost-efficiency and treatment guidelines has led to a workplace governed tightly by protocol, in which healthcare providers are expected to account for every single euro. We’ve all heard stories about seven minutes being allocated for putting on support stockings and two for making a bed. There’s barely any time left for a smile and a chat. The idea behind this policy is that every minute that is funded with public money must be spent usefully and that healthcare workers must be scrupulously supervised to ensure that this happens.

Some of our current products contain components that have already been proved to be damaging to the health of humans and animals, or for which the evidence would seem to be damning. The phthalate softening agents present in all kinds of products varying from shower curtains and carpets to cosmetics and children’s toys (including scoubidou strands and plastic ducks) are a good and well-publicised example. Several years ago, worries about exposing children to phthalate softening agents resulted in a ban on using most phthalates in children’s toys. In response to reports about the dangers of phthalates, the European Commission hopes to impose a universal ban on phthalates within the next few years.

On the day of the provincial elections, I visited the cities of Assen and Groningen. Groningen, designated the Capital of Taste, has been active for a number of years in connecting the urban green areas with the Stadjers (the inhabitants of Groningen). In various locations within the city, fruit trees have been planted in cooperation with residents, a flock of sheep keeps the verges and grassy strips neatly trimmed, the catering facilities within the municipal council serve local produce, and entrepreneurs in the surrounding area take on the challenge of selling their wares in the city. Following in the footsteps of Groningen, Assen is also keen to create space for forms of urban agriculture.

In several provinces, mega stalls have become the hot item in the latest round of provincial council elections. The Dutch Lower House has passed a motion for a moratorium on the building of mega stalls. No more enormous animal stalls, for the time being at least. It is a political statement that will win in the popularity stakes, but does nothing to address the crux of the problem.

The Cabinet has decided on a demonstration project for CO2 storage under the North Sea seabed, as an alternative to underground storage in residential areas. The aim is to dispel the anxiety surrounding possible risks.
If the Netherlands wishes to store CO2 as a means of combating climate change, we, the researchers at IMARES, believe the seabed to be a good alternative. Of course there is a proviso: we believe it is essential first of all to document any risks to marine life. It is also important to regard this as a transitional stage; sub-seabed storage should not be used as an argument for ending the search for truly sustainable solutions for climate change.

Globalisation, sustainability, the environment, animal welfare, income, amendments to the Common Agricultural Policy… Livestock chains in the Netherlands can brace themselves for some fundamental changes in the near future. These changes are inspired partly by the market, by emerging economies that are buying more, but also want to produce more, and partly by public debates at home. A large swathe of the Dutch population wants to see more time and energy invested in the environment, the landscape and animal welfare. But how do we respond to all of this? How can we, the livestock sectors, embrace responsible entrepreneurship? How can we be economical with natural resources, how do we protect the environment, how can we give our animals optimal care?

The Socio-Economic Council (SER) advised the cabinet last month in its report ‘More chemistry between green and growth’ to ‘make a firm commitment to the development of the biobased economy’, in which the Netherlands can play a key role worldwide. With our highly developed agro and chemical industries we hold strong trumps internationally.
Wageningen University and Research Centre has accordingly worked out promising business concepts in a recent recommendation to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation (EL&I) to enable the Netherlands to pick up the reins.

Who in Ghana are the winners and who the losers when the EU enforces legal timber production?

Tropical forests are disappearing rapidly in Ghana. Commercial logging for both the export and the domestic market is one of the key drivers. Operations are often illegal and unsustainable. 84% of the domestic market is supplied with timber that is produced without permit, payment of taxes or environmental control. The percentage of illegal export is lower, but still substantial. It is debatable to what extent deforestation has prompted Ghana government to undertake effective action, but the EU is alarmed. Western consumers increasingly feel bad that their hardwood window frame causes forest destruction. Add to that the threat of global suffocation, and policy agendas change.

Providing the world population with food in 2050 will prove a daunting task in which it will be crucially important to remove limiting factors in food production. One of these limiting factors is nitrogen. It is essential that we respond to the massive challenge presented by the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen in relation to the fertilisation and cultivation of crops. Recent insights into symbiosis in leguminous and non-leguminous plants and technological breakthroughs in genomics and plant breeding make it incumbent on us to invest in research that will harness new potential for sustainable food production.

It’s Christmas – the season when we invest extra time and energy in opulent and sumptuous food and then sit around the table to enjoy it. In western society we automatically assume that there will be enough food to go around and a wide enough variation to suit all palates. Regrettably, this is a privilege that we do not share with fellow human beings across the world. Nor has it always been the case in our own part of the world. In the second half of the 20th century a veritable revolution – the Green Revolution – had to take place to address this imbalance. Thanks to, amongst others, the systematic breeding of plants and animals, the use of artificial fertiliser, new techniques for combating blight and disease, and mechanisation, there has been a spectacular rise in the yield from agriculture and livestock farming. Even though the world population has burgeoned from 1.6 billion to more than 6 billion, more food is available per person now than in 1900.

Last week, I visited Brussels to attend an interesting symposium about the use of nanotechnology in food. This is a controversial issue, as consumers naturally prefer food with as little technological enhancement as possible. And to make things worse, many people associate nanotechnology with biotechnology on the one hand, and asbestos on the other. A veritable minefield. But to my mind, nanotechnology will prove very useful to both consumers and the food industry. Furthermore, it is a powerful driving force behind the type of innovation that will provide unique opportunities for safeguarding the cost-effectiveness of this vital sector in Europe, and more importantly in the Netherlands.

Recently, the Centre for Genetic Resources, the Netherlands, which is part of Wageningen UR, published a report entitled ‘Veredelde Zaken’. The report, which looks into the effect of patent law and plant breeder’s rights on the structure of plant breeding, was compiled by a team of people from within and outside Wageningen UR headed by Niels Louwaars. It concludes that the current application of patent law is enabling undesirable concentration within the industry, and that amendments need to be made to the letter and spirit of patent law, in the areas where it affects plant breeding.

Much can be said about the increasing social status of animals. We won't do so here, but it's a fact that we keep millions of such animals, deserving of protection, for the sole purpose of eating them. And to do so cheaply, production methods have been developed which are controversial. In the Netherlands, the pig seems to have become the object (or perhaps subject?) of such discussions. How do you combine pettable and edible?

Waves of shock went through the nature sector after the present Cabinet announced its intention to make cuts in the budget for nature. The Cabinet is planning to cut the budget by a staggering 40%, while a total of around 2% will be retrenched. The decision to scrap plans for ecological links connecting the main natural areas in the Netherlands was also met with criticism. A disjointed National Ecological Network [EHS] would be even worse than no Ecological Network. A network of areas and connections is essential if we are to preserve biodiversity and stimulate nature´s potential to adapt (to climate change, for example). So nature is now facing serious problems, but is this really all down to the new Cabinet?

On paper a lot was achieved at the biodiversity summit in Nagoya, Japan. A protocol has been drawn up for access to natural resources, and fair distribution of the benefits reaped from them. And there is now a strategic plan with biodiversity goals for 2020. If we manage to implement all that, we'll have taken great strides. As well as that, agreements have been made - although these are a bit softer - on how to organize the financing of this plan. So a major environmental summit has produced results - which we needed after Copenhagen. So much for what's on paper - but will we reach those targets? Some of them are feasible without changing our lifestyle. For example, extending the amount of land under protection areas. We can do that without switching to a sustainable economy. But that is not the case for most of the targets. And I really wonder whether the world is prepared to make that switch.

Campaigns promoting a healthy lifestyle only have a modest or sometimes even a negative effect ('Campaigns against alcohol ineffective'). This was the gist of a report in the NRC newspaper early last month in response to a publication in The Lancet. According to the authors, the most important advice is: support campaigns with services or products and assess the impact in advance. Unfortunately, if this is the only aspect set to change, the next few decades will probably see very little change. The successful anti-smoking policy implemented in the Netherlands and many other European countries is a good example of how it should be done.

Food science and the food industry face the enormous challenge of making food both healthy and tasty. I would like to suggest that food science desperately needs the help of physicists on this issue.
Because of the pressures of life in modern society, many consumers tend to choose food rich in fats and carbohydrates – which is logical, given our genetic background. However, the society of today is far removed from the living situation in which we evolved, and these biologically dictated choices can result in obesity and diabetes. The challenge for the food industry is to make healthy food a logical choice for the consumer.

To meet the increasing demand for agricultural products from a world population that will grow to 9.3 billion people in 2050, agricultural production must double. The essential problem is not whether this increased production is possible, but whether it can be achieved sustainably. This question is not easy to answer in view of all the competing claims on land and the need to maintain biodiversity. Consequently, considering sustainable marine agriculture is not a futuristic fantasy, but a necessity. It is comparable to the transition we made 10,000 years ago from hunting and gathering to agriculture and animal husbandry on land, but with the expertise and experience resulting from 10,000 years of agriculture.

Many Dutch municipalities have land rights in rural areas. This is an open secret. That land often lies ‘idle’ for years, awaiting a land exchange or construction project. In the meantime, it is leased to farmers with no further ambition. The agriculture and nature association Ark & Eemlandschap developed an idea to use that land – which after all had been purchased with taxpayers’ money – to encourage agrarian nature management and farmland footpaths.

From Sunday 10-10-10, the tropical islands of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba (BES) will become part of the Netherlands in the form of special municipalities. On 10 June 2010, the Netherlands declared a Caribbean Exclusive Economic Zone. These political changes mean an enrichment of the Netherlands’ biodiversity. We will gain 15,000 new plant and animal species! Tropical ecosystems such as coral reefs, cloud forests, seagrass fields and mangrove forests will be added to dunes, forests and mudflats. The Netherlands will become the owner of the biggest coral atoll in the Caribbean region. This also means taking responsibility for the sustainable management and use of these natural riches and observing obligations under international treaties.