Agriculture for 9 billion people

[PA5COR]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/25/1250608/-Agriculture-for-9-Billion-Dutch-style

Good article about how the Dutch produce only second to the USA in quantity agricultural food in quantity and quality.

[KK4AMI]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/25/1250608/-Agriculture-for-9-Billion-Dutch-style

Good article about how the Dutch produce only second to the USA in quantity agricultural food in quantity and quality.

Huh, that is a surprise. I figured the Ukraine was a pretty big agricultural center.

It would be better to see the comparison in terms of tonnage. You guys might be charging $200 for a loaf of bread. :wtf:

[PA5COR]

The productivity is astonishing. Consider. The Netherlands is 41,543 sq km. The US is 9,826,675 sq km. The US is 236 times the size of the Netherlands. Yet at $102 Billion, the Netherlands agricultural exports are 70% of the United States $145 billion in exports.
The Netherlands agriculture economy is 5x's as productive as the European average. Factor those productivity numbers on top of the fact that the Netherlands minimum wage at $11.77 an hour is high compared to most of Europe. In fact, higher productivity in that sector would imply higher wages relative to less productive sectors in the Dutch economy. Meanwhile in the US farm workers bottom out at $7.25 an hour.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/nl.html
Only 2% of the people work in agriculture.
Out of 16.8 million.

grains, potatoes, sugar beets, fruits, vegetables; livestock
The European grain trade organization, COCERAL, puts total soft wheat production in the Netherlands in 2012 at 1.343 million tonnes on 158,000 hectares. Production the year before was 1.36 million tonnes on 160,000 hectares.
Add large supplies of greenhouse products like tomato's peppers vegetables etc.

When comparing the tomato production and export of the Mediterranean countries (Greece, Italy and Spain, which have traditionally been the largest European producers and exporters of the product) it’s Holland which has managed through the use of technology and good organization to become Europe’s largest tomato exporter.


Barley production is put at 229,000 tonnes, up from 208,000 in 2011, with a rise in yield per hectare to 64.5 tonnes from 59.4 on an unchanged area of 35,000 hectares. The Netherlands produced, according to COCERAL, 304,000 tonnes of maize, up from 293,000 in 2011, with yield down at 117 tonnes a hectare from 122, while area rose to 26,000 hectares from 24,000 the year before.
“Mean population density is 487 inhabitants per square kilometer, making the Netherlands one of the most densely populated countries in the world,” the attaché report said.

The Dutch economy is the fifth largest in the euro-zone and is noted for its stable industrial relations, moderate unemployment and inflation, a sizable trade surplus, and an important role as a European transportation hub. Industrial activity is predominantly in food processing, chemicals, petroleum refining, and electrical machinery. A highly mechanized agricultural sector employs only 2% of the labor force but provides large surpluses for the food processing industry and for exports

Supermarket bread 800 grams is €1.20 local bakery bread ( all full grain) € 1.60 loaf 800 gram white bread is 10 cents cheaper, but i only have here full grain brown bread.

[KC2UGV]

We don't export nearly as much for a couple of reasons: We have more people, and we've had some bad weather the past couple of years. Corn harvest last year was devastated, and this year wasn't much better due to severe rains.

[KK4AMI]

Ya and the current administration is wasting good corn on the cob by turning it into ethanol. I love corn on the cob and I told them a thousand times that it should be my job to turn corn into gas. :lol:

[KC2UGV]

Ya and the current administration is wasting good corn on the cob by turning it into ethanol. I love corn on the cob and I told them a thousand times that it should be my job to turn corn into gas. :lol:

You wouldn't want to eat the corn used for ethanol fuel.