Towards Self-Sufficiency: Creating Biodiversity-Driven, Sustainable Landscapes
Sustainable food self-sufficiency is more than an ideal: it’s a necessity. To achieve this, we need a shift ‘from feed to food’. In other words, shifting to plant-based agriculture. This isn’t just about reducing livestock; it’s about reimagining how we use land to create a food system that supports both people and the planet.
In his article for Ruimte + Wonen, landscape architect Rens Wijnakker explores academic research investigating how the Netherlands could thrive on a self-sufficient, plant-based diet. While the findings date back over a decade, their relevance has only grown as we face the urgent need for sustainable solutions.
Beyond land use, Rens highlights the broader changes needed - from consumption habits to farming practices - to build a resilient, biodiverse, and future-proof agricultural system.
Read the full article here (in Dutch).
Read the full article in English below.
Impact of the Protein Shift – Turning Feed into Food
What if we moved away from intensive livestock farming and shifted to plant-based agriculture? How would that change our landscape?
We'd free up vast amounts of barn space and drastically reduce the land needed for growing feed crops. But that doesn't necessarily mean there'd suddenly be a lot of space available in the Netherlands for other purposes.
"For a sustainable and healthy diet, we need ninety percent of our agricultural land," explains Rens Wijnakker.
Now, imagine a scenario where the Netherlands can no longer import or export energy, raw materials, or food due to war, nuclear disasters, floods, or extreme weather events. We'd be isolated for years, relying entirely on domestic sources to feed ourselves. Would we have enough food to survive? While this may sound like a dystopian future, the government regularly commissions studies to assess whether the country could feed its population in such extraordinary circumstances.
The latest study, conducted in 2013 by what is now Wageningen Economic Research, considers a range of scenarios. These scenarios factor in limited energy, shortages of fertilizers, pesticides, and veterinary medicines, and the rise of “informal production” like private gardens. The possibilities range from a survival diet with no external inputs to continuing our current diet with full access to them.
One scenario assumes a healthy diet with no access to external inputs, leading to lower yields per hectare, much like organic circular agriculture. The surprising finding: the Netherlands could indeed produce a sustainable, healthy diet for itself. However, we'd have to dramatically reduce the livestock population to make it work. In the event of a sudden shift, we'd need to consume nearly the entire Dutch livestock stock quickly before transitioning to a mostly plant-based diet. This means less meat and more vegetables, with a focus on plant-based protein.
An Unhealthy Status Quo
Thankfully, we don’t need to rush into such drastic changes. We don't have to become self-sufficient overnight. However, the study provides valuable insights into how we could restructure our food system to be more efficient and sustainable, balancing production and consumption. Even without a crisis, our current food system is already placing excessive strain on resources, leading to high greenhouse gas emissions. More importantly, our diet is unhealthy, largely due to overconsumption of animal fats and proteins.
So, what would a self-sufficient, future-proof food system look like? A healthy diet would likely consist of fewer proteins overall but with a greater variety and flavor. Most of those proteins would be plant-based, and the land now used for animal feed could instead grow vegetables for human consumption. This doesn’t mean cutting out meat, eggs, and dairy entirely. A Wageningen University study suggests that without livestock, there’d be so little manure available that land for food production would need to increase. Additionally, many areas are best suited for grass, which can only be turned into edible products by livestock like cows, sheep, and goats. Reducing animal protein to just ten percent of the total consumed would lead to the most efficient use of land.
So, there would still be some livestock, but far fewer than we have now. Nine out of ten animals would disappear, and cornfields would give way to blooming rapeseed and peas. Grasslands would transform from "green deserts" into herb- and flower-rich meadows. In wetter areas where grass is the only viable crop, cows would continue to graze and fertilize the land, while chickens could be kept in barns, eating food scraps and providing manure for fertilizing crops.
Spatial Implications
This smaller livestock population would have significant spatial impacts. Right now, large parts of the Netherlands are dedicated to feeding our livestock. For example, much of the agricultural land on sandy soils consists of corn, grasslands, and sometimes wheat, mixed with barns and sheds. In areas like Gelderland and Overijssel, nearly half the land is used for livestock feed, while only about five percent goes toward crops or horticulture meant for human consumption.
The biggest changes would be felt in areas with sandy and peat soils. As the livestock population shrinks, the need for feed crops also decreases. This shift would transform areas once used for corn into fields of legumes and oil-rich crops, which can meet our protein and fat needs. Crops like rapeseed, lupine, and soy (with proper management) can grow well on sandy soils. Instead of rows of corn, fields would burst with yellow rapeseed flowers. Areas where only grass currently grows would see a shift from livestock farming to land-based activities, with over-fertilized grasslands becoming vibrant, flower-rich meadows.
Some areas might even see new crops, like duckweed, a protein-rich plant that thrives in wet, nutrient-dense conditions, or seaweed, which could become a food or energy source. Innovations in agriculture, like technologies that convert proteins from grass into milk without cows, are also emerging. Though not yet included in the Wageningen study, these innovations are part of the evolving landscape of sustainable farming.
Landscape and Biodiversity Benefits
The potential benefits go beyond just feeding the country. A self-sufficient agricultural system would foster a landscape with higher biodiversity (due to less intensive fertilization and more extensive land use) and improved nature reserves, as nitrogen and phosphate emissions would significantly decrease. Innovations in agriculture, like strip cropping and food forests, could provide even greater ecological benefits. These farming systems are more diverse and resilient because they adapt to local soil and water conditions, promoting water retention, soil recovery, and healthy insect and bird populations.
There's also growing interest in farming without manure, utilizing compost and nitrogen-capturing plants. A future-proof food system doesn’t mean returning to the "old days" of farming. Even with greater diversity and landscape-based practices, we’ll still see innovation and mechanization. For example, modern machines can harvest crops based on ripeness, and sensors can pinpoint where water and nutrients are needed, making farming more efficient and reducing the need for large-scale operations.
How Do We Get There?
The question now is: how do we make this vision a reality? Even though future-proof farming methods are proven to be profitable, they often remain small-scale or incidental. This is because the benefits—like carbon capture, better water management, and enhanced recreational spaces—accrue to society rather than the individual farmer. Monetizing these services requires significant changes.
Another challenge is the cost of transitioning the agricultural sector, especially intensive livestock farming, which is capital-intensive and low profit. Much of the current infrastructure would need to be phased out, and the land market would shift as new farming methods take hold. The efficiency of our current agricultural system has been optimized over a century, so transitioning to these new practices could take decades.
Space for Other Uses?
If we manage to create a sustainable, plant-based agriculture system, would there be room for other purposes? The short answer is no—at least not right away. While we’d free up barn space and reduce the need for feed crops, much of that land would still be needed for food production. For example, transitioning to a plant-based system could save 42% of the agricultural area, but to maintain a healthy diet, reduce fertilizer use, and close nutrient loops, we’d still need about 90% of the current agricultural area.
In the end, a shift to a plant-based food system would save significant space, but the benefits would be global, reducing the need for land used for deforestation in places like the Amazon and Southeast Asia. These shifts offer a meaningful opportunity to reduce global environmental impacts while improving food production in the Netherlands.