AgriTech Innovation in The Netherlands: Worldwide Impact
A Conversation Between Christopher P. Skroupa, Skytop Editor-in-Chief, and Frederik Vossenaar, Executive Advisor, Dutch Greenhouse Delta / May 2, 2025
Frederik Vossenaar is Executive Advisor at Dutch Greenhouse Delta, a foundation that promotes Dutch horticulture technology. He joined the organization after a decades-long career at the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature that took him to many countries and continents.
He graduated in agricultural economics at Wageningen University before entering the Dutch Foreign Agricultural Service. He started his career in Paris, with an accreditation to the OECD. Later, he had postings as agricultural counsellor at the Dutch embassies in Tokyo and in Seoul, after which he served in Bangkok with a regional responsibility. He was head of the International Nature Management department in the ministry and was spokesperson for several multilateral organizations. In 2002, he was posted in Tokyo again as agricultural counsellor, followed by a posting in Buenos Aires in a regional capacity. Vossenaar played an important role in making the soy trade more sustainable with his involvement with the Round Table on Responsible Soy.
In 2014 he was appointed as special envoy of the Ministry of Agriculture to develop new business opportunities for the private sector. He led economic missions to several countries in Asia, India and the Middle East and gained wide experience with complex trade issues and market access negotiations.
He wrote several books, about Thailand and Japan, and was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun by the Japanese government in 2024. Vossenaar has been advisor on food security issues for various philanthropic institutions. He joined the Hague Center for Strategic Studies as Strategic Advisor on Food and Agriculture in November 2024.
Christopher P. Skroupa: What are the underlying drivers behind the Netherlands as a leader and driver of recent surges in new capital moving into startups or into innovative AgriTech companies?
Frederik Vossenaar: The Netherlands is known worldwide as an agricultural superpower. In addition, our country is also a leading player in food ingredients and processed foods. We owe this prominent position to a combination of innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), advanced higher education institutions, Wageningen University & Research, and multinationals such as Unilever, Corbion, Cosun, FrieslandCampina, DSM-Firmenich and Upfield. These companies are firmly anchored in the Netherlands with both their research and development (R&D) departments and production sites.
This high-tech sector delivers significant economic value and is a major buyer of our agricultural products. The global market for food ingredients and processed foods is dynamic and full of opportunities. The Netherlands can capitalize on these while securing its own food supply. The Dutch are very entrepreneurial people.
Public Private Partnerships (PPP) have been a long-time strength of our agricultural sector. Close cooperation between the government, the private sector and academia is also how we think of innovation. Research is very much driven by what the markets need. It’s not about satisfying academic curiosity by doing research that is not actionable. They are solving real-life problems.
Innovation is also sparked by cooperation between farmers. They never considered one another as competitors. If a good idea is launched one farmer might say to his neighbor, “...that's a great idea, but I think we can make it even better.” They would improve it and share it back for all.
Dutch growers, for example, would not have a problem letting a prototype run in their greenhouse. They would open the greenhouse for certain experiments. They're very open to innovation. They're very open to sharing that knowledge.
Chris: To what extent has this model been able to take technologies and export them to both developed, emerging and perhaps even frontier markets?
Frederik: We realize that high tech agriculture will not automatically be accessible to a farmer in a frontier or developing market such as Bangladesh or Tunisia. We try to understand the local needs and try to co-create a solution. There are a lot of improvements that can be made with quite simple means so that even a small farmer in Bangladesh can reap the benefits of our innovation research. For example, you can put a small number of seeds in a small package, so it is affordable. If they grow their tomatoes in the gutter instead of open soil, they can see a big improvement. Our companies would be able to supply low-tech, mid-tech and high-tech to whatever market is needed. The same is for the poultry industry. For every phase of development, we can deliver.
Genetics is a particularly strong item in the Netherlands. I think half of the layer chickens in the world find their origin back to a village in the Netherlands where the company Hendrix is located. But also, when it comes to processing, Dutch companies have technology that is suitable for any circumstance. So, there's a bit for everybody that just fits the small step that any farmer wants to take to make this production a little bit more efficient or a little bit more profitable.
Chris: How does climate play a role in driving the demand for AgriTech innovation?
Frederik: Controlled Environment Agriculture is an answer to many challenges that the climate presents. Less water, no chemicals, high production: greenhouses are a solution. Climate change is really still underestimated by many governments. In addition, the world population is expected to grow to 10 billion by 2050. People will change their diets. That puts another challenge to producers. And in times of economic shocks and conflict, add to that climate change. Then the outlook for food security isn't all that good.
Climate change advances at a faster rate than plant breeders can keep track of rising temperatures. It also very often means different kinds of pests—a different set of challenges for a farmer. And if they don't have the latest varieties, if they don't have the best breeds to counter these challenges, then all is lost. So really climate change is a big challenge with everything that it brings.
It is documented that climate change in the United States costs an estimated billion and a half dollars or more in damages every several weeks. We are still arguing whether or not it exists.
Chris: Share more about how The Netherlands invests in startups.
Frederik: The Netherlands has established a healthy innovation system that has spawned a new generation of food scale-ups. These companies not only generate economic value but also help the existing food industry to become more sustainable and healthier. The early phase of technology development and innovation is increasingly shifting from the large corporate laboratories to startups and scale-ups. This process has been strongly supported by active government policies over the past decade. Organizations such as StartLife, Foodvalley NL, regional development agencies and Invest-NL provide solid support. The knowledge exchange between organizations and knowledge institutions is excellent. For example, getting initial funding takes only 2.5 years on average in the Netherlands, much faster than in France or the UK. Although developments are mostly positive, one important gap stands out: Dutch scale-ups expand their production significantly slower than international competitors.
Most startups that I know of are very much looking into alternative proteins like plant-based proteins. Meat is part of a public discussion. A lot of people think that plant-based proteins are the new holy grail. Many seek protein alternatives such as vegetarian cheese or related alternatives. Innovation in the agrifood sector is complex. Investment requirements are high, margins are small, and development and growth cycles are long, leading to a delayed return on investment. This sets the sector apart from high-tech manufacturing and companies in data science and ICT (Information and Communications Technology). There are potential partnerships that startups could exploit in the U.S. Regarding plant-based meat, a lot is happening in the U.S. that offers us the potential of great partnerships.
Chris: Let’s turn to food security and food sustainability. Is there brain power there to be exported to those regions that need it the most?
Frederik: Certainly. Most can be achieved by companies that bring commercial value to their clients with their technology. The market is the best driver to get results, and you will find Dutch companies everywhere. Seed companies in particular are very strong in the Netherlands, including potato. More than 60% of world trade in certified seed potatoes originates in the Netherlands. Potato is a highly nutritious crop, drought tolerant too. The importance of new and resistant varieties is huge, also in regions where food security is under threat.
Talking about strengthening food security, I should mention the urgency of preventing food losses and waste. That would really make a difference. The Netherlands is the second largest exporter agricultural products in the world. To a large part, we owe that position to our skills in logistics, in processing perishables. Handling products, cold storage, maintaining quality and preventing losses and waste – we should really make an effort.
To put our export performance in full perspective, one quarter goes to Germany, which is our neighboring country, and three quarters remains in the EU. So, if you produce eggs in the east of the country, they travel less kilometers to Dusseldorf than they would to Amsterdam, and in this regard the distance is comparable to what we would consider to be domestic trade.
Chris: Tell me about the Hague Center for Strategic Studies and their focus.
Frederik: HCSS is a knowledge institute that conducts independent research. Its goal is to offer fact-based analysis of the challenges that our societies face to inform public discourse, public and private strategic decision making and contribute to international and national security in accordance with liberal democratic values.
It also underlines the importance of food security, especially when it related to stability and resilience in societies affected by geopolitics—such as in the example of Russia and Ukraine.
We engage with food companies on subjects such as supply chain stress testing to ensure that all aspects of resilience planning have been taken into consideration. For example, think twice before your headquarters is on the 20th floor of a skyscraper because when there is an electricity hiccup, you don't want to run down 20 floors to exit the building. We ask questions such as, “how resilient is your company when it comes to water, electricity, connectivity, packaging and labor?” Companies have to move from reactive crisis management to proactive geopolitical strategies.
There are so many things that can go wrong in the case of sabotage. How secure is your operation? Sometimes I’m surprised to see how little thought companies have given to assessing their vulnerability or dependence on other contingencies.
Our food system is so efficient that when there is a small hiccup somewhere in the supply chain or logistic process the consequences can be enormous. Food perishes very quickly. Social stability and political stability are conditions that can deteriorate quickly when food supply chains are interrupted.
Chris: From your experience as the appointed special envoy of the Dutch Minister of Agriculture to develop new business opportunities in the private sector, including leading economic missions to Central Asia, India and the Middle East, how is AgriTech unfolding across various regions?
Frederik: Every country choses its own path. We should really avoid the idea that upcoming markets should follow our way of development to be successful. In India, half the population depends on a rural income. Yet, connectivity is omnipresent. Online markets pop up. Farmers get data and crop information in a way that one generation earlier was unthinkable. In Japan, the ageing society is a strong driver for the development of robotics. In the Republic of Korea, greenhouse companies take advantage of the know-how of car companies and develop electric greenhouses.
Kazakhstan is a different story. The size of the country is enormous. It still has an oil and gas economy. However, the country's leaders believe that food is going to be a sector of the future. They want to invest in agricultural production. We focus less on tech development. The Netherlands is involved is a number of government-to-government initiatives, including education to build a strong agri-infrastructure.
For example, for a professional livestock sector veterinary control is needed as well as laboratories for analysis. A regulatory standard framework, and government services, including education, are needed to improve breeding production. The Dutch government and its partner institutions are working together with their counterparts in Kazakhstan on this effort.
