Under the condition of extremely poor natural resources, The Netherlands has created an amazing agricultural miracle, becoming the world's second largest agricultural exporter second only to the United States;

    The Netherlands covers an area of more than 40,000 square kilometers, with a cultivated area of 7,702 square kilometers. The proportion of the population employed in agriculture is less than 3%, that is to say, the Netherlands uses about 3% of the labor force to create about 2% of the value；

     In fact, there are many similarities between Dutch agriculture and The agriculture of African countries, such as the lack of land resources, the current situation of more people and less land, which makes it difficult for food production to fully meet consumer demand and requires a large amount of imports；

    However, the Netherlands vegetables, flowers exports in the world accounted for a large proportion, also make the Netherlands become the world's second largest agricultural exporter only next to the United States;

     Why is The Netherlands an agricultural power while China is not an African country；

Four basic features of Dutch agriculture：

1、Intensive, large-scale and specialized production:

     lack of arable land in the Netherlands has made it more important than any other country to raise Labour productivity.Accordingly, most agricultural enterprises use intensive, large-scale production mode；

     Dutch agriculture, whether vegetables or flowers, are generally specialized production, multi-species management.This specialized production is conducive to the professional allocation of facilities, reduce production costs, improve product quality and form economies of scale.At the same time, the specialized production promotes the research in the professional field, so that the enterprise has considerable development potential, but also won a good market share for the enterprise；

      Specialization is also reflected in the management, the pursuit of the maximization of economic interests, looking for a unique market, completely according to the market demand to determine the direction of enterprise production and management, effectively curb the same industry or product crowded into the market "single-log bridge" abuses.Each agricultural products production enterprises have their own management characteristics, leading the way, so that market behavior is more standardized and orderly；

2、The standardized and orderly market operation mode makes the organic combination of production and sales：

     In the Netherlands, the sale of agricultural products is a complete system.The standardized market system provides high-quality services and guarantees for the rapid entry of Dutch agricultural products into the consumption field.

     Product that greenhouse enterprise produces is marked with manufacturer, registered trademark and product brand, consumer buys his satisfactory agricultural commodity from the market through product brand namely；

     Dutch agricultural product market classification is relatively clear, relatively concentrated agricultural products auction market, vegetable auction market, greenhouse operating equipment and special products market；

3、Perfect supporting service system:

     For agricultural products, timely transportation and good storage conditions before and after transportation are crucial.The Netherlands' good transport infrastructure, reliable transport sector and effective distribution system guarantee this；

4、Industrial agriculture:

     Greenhouse agriculture, because it gets rid of the influence of natural climate, can be produced and managed in accordance with industrial production methods, including the planting process, product packaging and sales，Modern industrial technology is widely used in greenhouse industry, including mechanical technology, engineering technology, electronic technology, computer management technology, modern information technology, biological technology and so on.It has realized the modern agricultural production and operation mode of completely enclosed production, completely getting rid of the constraints of natural conditions and balanced production throughout the year；

There are four main practices in Dutch agriculture:

1、Focus on advantageous areas and build high-quality industries:

     Netherlands is known as the "Garden of Europe" and the "flower Kingdom". When we hear "tulips", we think of Holland.This is the Netherlands outside hit "flower signboard", the flower industry completely into a national economic pillar；

2、Develop contract agriculture to avoid market risks:

     Dutch farms mostly adopt order production, that is, agricultural brokers and distributors and farmers signed agreements.The purchase quantity, quality and minimum protection price of agricultural products are stipulated in the order, so that both parties enjoy corresponding rights, obligations and binding force, and can not unilaterally break the contract；

     Buyer of the order will come to check the execution of the order periodically.In this case, farmers only need to bear the production risk and complete the production task according to the order with quality and quantity guaranteed；

3、Relying on family farms to promote scale operation:

     Family farms are the mainstay of Dutch agriculture. Many small farms in the same area choose the "group model", and many manor farms also join cooperatives；

4、Develop facility agriculture to break resource bottlenecks:

     lack of light and scarce land resources in Holland severely restrict agricultural production.So the Dutch invested a lot of money, relying on the world's leading glass greenhouse technology, to build a world-class facility agriculture system；

Two success stories：

1、Keukenhof Park：

    Tulip is the national flower of the Netherlands, 80 kilometers south of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, is the world's largest tulip park - Keukenhof Park, covering an area of 28 hectares.Every year from March to May, hundreds of tulip species compete in spectacular splendor；

    Park has more than 2,500 trees of 87 kinds and more than 7 million flowers of all kinds. Tulips alone are up to 4.5 million and more than 1,000 kinds.Keukenhof is decorated with colorful flowers.This enchanting sight has earned Keukenhof the title of "The most beautiful spring garden in Europe"；

2、A floral distribution map of the park；

    Keukenhof would not be as famous as it is today if only horticultural produce were produced.As a tulip region, Keukenhof started out in agriculture, but it is its highly commercial operation that makes it possible；

     Keukenhof uses a "multi-level" planting method to arrange the flowers' bloom so that visitors can enjoy the flowers at any time during the park's two months of opening.In Keukenhof park, there are also a variety of styles of inspiration garden and art park with hundreds of sculptures and artworks, regular flower shows, themed float parades and other features；

     Diversified management is adopted. Within two months after the park is opened, the main income source is the necessary consumption of ticket collection and optional consumption such as sightseeing and catering, supplemented by a series of tourism derivative products, so as to maximize the use of every part of the park；

    Keukenhof's flower theme has spawned a wide variety of activities and products that are highly local and become a darling of the international market.It can be said that keukenhof today has become the largest "experiential flower shopping center" in the world.；

3、Claw village；  

     Sheephorn is a famous historic village in the northeast of the Netherlands, located about 120km from Amsterdam in the municipality of stenweikland in the province of haut-ethel.It is also known as the "Venice of Holland" because of the horns found in coal mines；

     In 1969, the stakeholders of Yangjiao Village began to prepare for relevant matters. In 1974, the local land development Committee was formally established and the land development plan was formulated.It was formally implemented in 1979 with the approval of 61 per cent of farmers and agricultural landowners;

     It is planned to cover about 5,000 hectares of land, of which 2,600 hectares will be used for agricultural production and 2,400 hectares for nature conservation；

     Of the protected land, 900 hectares are household land and 250 hectares are open water.Several specific waterways can be used for tourism and leisure, while others are closed to tourism to protect the local ecology；

     Plan starts with upgrading local infrastructure, widening additional roads and optimizing transport accessibility.New pumping stations will be built to reduce the groundwater level in agricultural areas and improve land production efficiency;

     layout of farms brings farmers closer to their land and facilitates their operations;If farmers' land is designated as an ecological reserve, the government subsidizes compensation for restrictions on agricultural production；

     Tourism and leisure area is confined to several waterways and two important lakes and adjacent villages, and will not affect its agricultural development.Land development separates agriculture, ecological protection, tourism and leisure land, and realizes regional zoning and industrial specialization；

4、An aerial view of Yangjiao Village without a road:

    Good ecological conditions of Yangjiao Village still maintain the beautiful natural scenery, there are no cars, no roads, only the dense river network, and 176 small wooden Bridges connecting each family.The whole village is a park, a park-idyllic community, now with no less than half a million visitors a year；

Inspiration from Dutch agricultural experience:

    There are several reasons why Dutch agriculture has been so successful；

1、Efficient agricultural science and technology innovation system:

     Netherlands has a well-developed agricultural research, education and extension system, which is regarded as the three pillars of Dutch agricultural development and integrated management. The synergy of the three forms the OVO Trinity.；

    Government attaches great importance to agricultural research, education and extension, and regards promoting its development as an important responsibility of the government.Taking farmers as the core and establishing a national agricultural science and technology innovation system and network is a basic experience for Dutch agriculture to achieve great achievements；

2、Agricultural cooperation system with win-win cooperation:

     Agriculture in the Netherlands is operated on a family farm, but the farmers are treated as a collective with common interests rather than as competitors. They produce almost identical products and do not have their own marks on the market, so they all have the same market position；

     As a result of this common characteristic, the farmers were united, in effect, as a cooperative for the service of the farm.These non-governmental organizations of agricultural production, supply and marketing, agricultural machinery, processing, insurance and finance, as well as various professional cooperatives in agricultural production, provide various thoughtful and socialized services for farmers' agricultural production；

3、Adapting agricultural policies:

     Dutch farmers are able to create such amazing achievements, but also due to the government's unique agricultural policy.The basic goal of Dutch agricultural policy is to establish an agriculture with coordinated development between man and nature, sustainable development and international competitiveness, and formulate policies and measures based on this；

     In order to make efficient use of the limited land, the Dutch government has adopted a series of agricultural development strategies and policies in line with the national climate characteristics and national conditions, such as encouraging farmers to avoid the production of grain crops that require a lot of sunlight and low sales price.Make full use of the advantages of flat terrain and rich forage resources to vigorously develop animal husbandry, dairy industry and high value-added horticulture crops；

     Moreover, through providing subsidies and policy guidance, the government has fostered a number of private companies, including some specialized consulting companies, production means companies, technical service companies and so on；

     In the market system, these organizations are playing an increasingly obvious role in promoting technology popularization, information circulation and socialized services.In addition, the government will adjust its policies according to market conditions；

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