Text: student editor Femke van den Dries
De Volkskrant published an opinion article on organic farming last Wednesday. According to the writer, this type of agriculture would also be bad for nature. Moreover, it could not meet our food needs because it requires more land than regular agriculture. With those points, Maud van Kerkhof, master’s student in Resilient Farming and Food Systems at WUR resolutely disagreed.
It continued to gnaw. Her mother suggested she write a response, if only to sort out her thoughts for herself. She did, and with success: de Volkskrant published the opinion piece in their newspaper last Tuesday.
Van Kerkhof: ‘I wrote the piece quite quickly; it took me about two to three hours. Of course I had knowledge about the subject through my studies.’ In the opinion piece, Van Kerkhof argues that organic farming may produce less per hectare, but there are social gains in the fairer earnings model, more biodiversity, healthier soil and less use of pesticides. Van Kerkhof: ‘I don’t see organic farming as the perfect system either, but at least it’s a step in the right direction.’ Soon after she sent in her article, editors informed her that it had been selected for possible publication; after the Easter weekend, an editor informed her that the newspaper was going to publish it. However, some terms that were self-evident to Van Kerkhof, such as ‘silvopasture’ (the combination of forest with grassland and cattle) did need to be explained a bit better for the average reader.
Supporters
Van Kerkhof has already received a dozen responses to the article via LinkedIn, all from supporters. Her opinion piece was the third in a short time about organic farming in the newspaper. The first was about how high prices make organic food a luxury. Van Kerkhof also received a supportive response from this writer.
‘I’m glad it was published because I really stand behind what I wrote. Extra nice that it’s de Volkskrant because we always read it at home.’ To be repeated? ‘If I see something in the future that I also think is important, I might write a response again.’
Translated with DeepL.com.
