Sale on the farm, through a shop or vending machines on the property, is the main source of extra income. Photo Shutterstock Multifunctional farms such as healthcare farms, camping farms and farm shops saw their turnover increase by almost two-thirds, to 1,680 million euros between 2020 and 2023. This is shown by the latest measurements conducted in the research series ‘Perspective on multifunctional agriculture’.
An increasing number of agricultural businesses in the Netherlands are developing multiple other sources of revenue in addition to crop and livestock farming. Examples include care farming, day care, and agricultural nature management. Thirty-seven per cent of the agricultural businesses sought additional income this way in 2023, up from 30 per cent in 2020.
Sales on the farm account for the largest share of the turnover, with 595 million euros, followed by care farming (450 million) and recreation (362 million). Other activities account for smaller shares: farm education generates 0.9 million in turnover, daycare generates 158 million, and agricultural nature management accounts for 116 million. Minister Wiersma announced last autumn that she would spend 500 million extra annually for the latter as of 2026.
Significant increase
The total of 1,680 million euros generated through multifunctional agriculture in 2023 is 665 million more than the last data from 2020 when multifunctional agriculture first crossed the 1 billion line. (1,015 million). The percentage increase in 2023 (63 per cent) is much higher than the increase measured in 2020 (15 per cent). This can partly be attributed to inflation and the fact that revenues, particularly those generated through recreation, were reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a relatively large portion of the increase is due to increased demand for recreation, local products and professional care services.
Impact on business income
This specific study focuses on the turnover from multifunctional farms. Not their profits, says researcher Harold van der Meulen. Earlier studies show that ancillary activities contribute to livelihood security. Van der Meulen: ‘In 2022, published a report on the effect of additional activities on the incomes in agriculture and horticulture. This report concludes that businesses with a broader range of activities average higher incomes than those that do not develop broader activities.’
‘Perspective on multifunctional agriculture’ is a research series commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature from Wageningen Social & Economic Research and Field Crops (Wageningen Plant Research).
