Anne van Doorn is an environmental ecologist and project leader Nature-inclusive agriculture. She is involved in the European joint agricultural policy and agro-biodiversity. ‘There is tension between food production on the one hand and nature and biodiversity on the other. Contemporary agriculture leads to monotonous landscapes. I wholeheartedly support farmers and, as an ecologist, I see where there is room for improvement. There is a huge potential to create a diverse environment, for example, by combining crops through strip-tilling or food-forests. That is what motivates me in my work, day after day. I truly believe people are happier in a more natural rural environment.’
The black-tailed godwit, the Dutch national bird, is in trouble. Measures to protect the bird are restricted to smaller grassland areas. If the surroundings were richer in nature, this would certainly help. Wageningen scientists are exploring how farmers may be better compensated, and how agriculture and increased biodiversity, such a…
The number of insects is decreasing, farmland birds are having a tough time, soil life is diminishing and plant species are becoming extinct. In the last years it has become painfully clear that biodiversity in the rural areas of the Netherlands has come under pressure. The Living Planet Report Natuur…