The Dutch Agricultural Phenomenon Holland Earns Almost €100 Billion a Year from Agriculture The Netherlands is a small and densely populated country. Its population density is 496 people per square kilometre. For a long time, it lacked the resources for large-scale agriculture, but now it is the world's second-largest supplier of food products. How did it do it? Seen from above, Holland does not look like a country with mass agricultural production: numerous patches of densely planted fields, each quite small by modern standards. In the country's main agricultural regions, it is difficult to find a potato field, greenhouse or pigsty that is not surrounded by some skyscraper, factory or other urban development. At the same time, more than half of the country's land is occupied by agriculture and crop production. The Dutch greenhouse complexes stretch out like a necklace of seemingly gigantic mirrors, glittering in the midday sun and flaring up with an unearthly glow at night. Some cover an area of ​​up to 70 hectares. It is thanks to these extraordinary greenhouses, which maintain a constant internal microclimate, that the country, located 1,600 kilometers from the Arctic Circle, has become the world leader in the export of such heat-loving plants as tomatoes. In addition to them, the Dutch hold first place in the world in the export of potatoes and onions, and also occupy second place in the supply of vegetables in general. More than a third of the world's deals on the vegetable seed market are also concluded in Holland. The Netherlands is the world leader in the introduction of innovative technologies in agriculture and livestock farming. Since 2000, Dutch farmers have managed to almost completely stop using pesticides, and since 2009, they have reduced the use of antibiotics in poultry and livestock farming by 60%. Currently, the Netherlands is the second largest food exporter, second only to the United States, a country 270 times larger than the Netherlands. Climate-controlled greenhouses allow harvesting all year round. With the growing demand for chicken, Dutch producers have developed and implemented technologies that allow them to maximize poultry production while maintaining humane treatment of animals. By precisely determining the required amount of water and nutrients, potato farms get twice as much harvest. Only rainwater is used for irrigation. To water a typical open field, about 60 liters of water are needed, on a farm this amount is reduced to 15. Every year, all tomatoes are grown anew from seed, and the old tops are sent for processing - they are then used to make boxes for the harvest. To combat pests, the farm uses natural means - an army of mites that do not eat tomatoes, but destroy harmful insects. The Netherlands is famous for the seeds they produce. In 2016, the country sold them for about $ 1.7 billion. At the same time, it does not supply seeds of genetically modified products to the market. Dutch farms even offer vegetable seeds that can independently protect themselves from the main harmful insects. And one tomato seed costing $ 0.50 from a high-tech greenhouse can yield a harvest of 68 kilograms. Dutch researchers strive to provide products not only to their homeland, but also to developing countries. This small country last year exported agricultural products for 90 billion euros. But for the Dutch, not only quantity is important, but also quality, so they have developed a new concept for the development of the agricultural sector. For Holland, the agricultural sector is primarily an area of ​​​​high technology. According to Dutchreview, R&D spending at Dutch agribusinesses with more than 10 employees increased by 19% in 2018 to €864 million. For other sectors of the Dutch industry, investment growth averaged 11%. A year earlier, having overtaken the US and the UK, the Netherlands climbed another position in the Global Innovation Index (GII) in 2017, overtaking Sweden and taking second place after Switzerland. So if anyone can create the agriculture of the future, it will certainly be the Dutch. If in 1999 the Netherlands used more fertilizers than any other European country (an average of 500 kg per hectare), by 2014 this figure had decreased by more than half, and fertilizers are practically not used in greenhouses at all.