With the nitrogen problem, yet to be achieved Urgenda targets and extremely expensive gas, sustainable food production is quickly becoming a top priority. Which innovative initiatives have already been initiated in Drenthe? In this three-part series, we put some of them in the spotlight.
On the Eytemaheert in Roderwolde, the farm of Maurits and Jessica Tepper, farming is based on the principle of ‘nature-inclusive circular agriculture’. Although that may sound a bit complicated, the implementation is actually very simple: the cows only eat the grass that grows in the meadows they walk on, and the meadows are fertilized by the cows themselves. So no substances end up in the soil that do not belong there, and so the soil remains fertile and healthy.
Furthermore, Tepper does not care much for his animals: they decide for themselves when they go to the milking machine, and are then automatically led to a fresh piece of grass. They are also outside 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If the weather is very bad, they can take shelter in the stable, even on their own initiative.
In addition to traffic and industry, agriculture causes emissions of harmful substances that end up in nature. When manure and urine from chickens, pigs and cows come together, ammonia is released. Ammonia is one of the harmful substances that causes the nitrogen problem in our country.
But the ammonia problem is not an issue on the Eytemaheert. The harmful substances are mainly released in stables, because cows drop their urine and faeces in the same place. The animals of the Tepper family are always outside; so no large amounts of ammonia are released.
Because they have a closed business cycle, the company is even allowed to apply manure above ground. Most farmers are not allowed to do this and have to inject their manure into the soil. “Unfortunately, this has to be done due to legislation and regulations,” says Maurits Tepper. “That has to do with the substances that are in that manure. You have high-intensity farms, they have a more intensive fertilizer. So ammonia and nitrogen are released. You don’t want too much of that in the air, but as much as possible in the soil. ” In addition, they leave the clover on the Eytemaheert, that plant stores nitrogen well.
Tepper tells how a few weeks ago he took part in a worm counting weekend with his daughters. They counted 64 worms from one spade. “That’s a lot,” says the farmer. “That also means that the soil is in balance and that it functions as we want it to.”
The reason that such sustainable choices are implemented on the Eytemaheert is so that future generations also have healthy and fertile soil. Tepper: “We must be aware that we do not have to feed people for another ten or twenty years. We hope that together we can grow and produce food for generations on this earth – for everyone.”