Dutch agricultural issues are high on the agenda. The nitrogen crisis, biodiversity problems, and party politics dominate the Dutch political and public debate. This research sets off from these issues and perspectives to study the way different narratives, ideas, and political practices have developed and become dominant in the Dutch public and agricultural domain during the second half of the twentieth century.
Background
This PhD project is concerned with the growing role of the agriculture industry and its effect on the environment. It studies Dutch discourses on environmental issues such as the increasing use of pesticides and the importation of animal feed produced in Thailand and South America. Studying these diverse discourses and the role of various actors, such as farmers, governmental politics, environmental organisations, and agribusiness will offer new insights into the power dynamics and narratives behind the Dutch agricultural-food system and will help to understand the possible roles of political practices and civil society.
This project attempts to add a different perspective on farming in a context of political and societal change, globalisation and European integration: it also aims to contribute to our understanding of a complex past that is intricately intertwined with the future of our food system.
Objectives
This project has two main objectives:
- Challenging the dominant narrative of an one-directional, inevitable transition from traditional to industrial farming and showing how the past continuously shapes our current times.
- Agricultural industries form one of the core characteristics of food systems, but they are often studied in isolation. By placing the more invisible role of industries at the center of the research, this project hopes to contribute to a broader understanding of the Dutch agricultural past.