Will the New Zealand farm become a community farm?

Several farmers (part-time)

What is still a dairy farm on 75 ha of land and with 125 dairy cows, should in a few years be a mixed farm where several (part-time) farmers work together. The shot departs from the usual model of a farmer on a farm.

We really need a new generation of farmers in the Netherlands, who see that things need to be approached differently.

Chairman of the Board of Directors Franke Remerie: “It has become practically impossible for young people in the Netherlands to live and work on a farm, unless your parents already have a farm. It is urgent to change this. We really have a new farming culture in the Netherlands. farmers, who see that things need to be approached differently. Our landscape and our biodiversity are the result of our unhealthy agricultural policy for 50 years. We are all reaping the bitter fruits of it today. completely different approach. We are making a change in this area, so we are more based on a sense of community: living and working together in an agricultural enterprise, where the care of an attractive landscape and the attention to the development and restoration of biodiversity are considered normal, and the crops are grown naturally, which must be sold. “

Young lot

“I don’t expect this young generation to be able to immediately make a full-time income from it. It is also the question of whether we should go back to this old model. I would rather see a group of farmers working together, who part of their income with a lot. Win another trade. It is only healthy. It puts things in perspective and keeps you from sitting in your own bubble. “

Former family farm

Farmer Anton Remy, with whom a purchase contract has now been concluded, has no successor. but also, devoted as he is to his old family farm, would like to continue working on the farm for a few more years and also want to live there for the time being. This is possible in the agreements that have now been concluded: Rémy will continue to operate his dairy farm for another 2 years and the 3 years after, he will remain involved as a volunteer. Franke Remerie: “A great solution for both parties. We can evolve and Anton can gradually disappear.”

For the next 3 months, the organization’s board of directors will be in talks with high net worth individuals to help fund this ambitious plan. The reason is that this plan should not stand in the way of other goals.

Solar park

Other exploration work concerns the municipality and the province’s plans to build a large-scale solar park next to the plots that Land van Ons now wishes to acquire. Franke Remerie: “Sustainable energy is important, but it would be a shame to invest millions in improving the landscape and biodiversity and next to a large-scale solar park, where this landscape quality is not perpetuated . “