AgrotechDutch field robot maker AIGRO declared bankrupt
The maker of the AIGRO UP autonomous tool carrier for weeding and mowing was declared bankrupt on 19 October; its chief executive hopes a buyer will allow a restart.
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Netherlands
AgrotechAgrotech
Finland's Enifer gets its first European product with fungal protein dog biscuits
Dutch pet food maker HenArt has built its new Levendo dog biscuit around Enifer's Pekilo mycoprotein, grown by fermenting a fungus on food and farm sidestreams, as Enifer readies a 3,000-tonne plant for 2027.
VegetablesPieter van Kesteren's 40 years in seeds mirrored the rise of a global vegetable trade
Seed World Europe traces how Pieter van Kesteren, who died on 30 September, built markets behind the Iron Curtain, took coated lettuce seed to California and later ran Nunhems.
AgrotechDutch prototype puts liquid fertiliser in the root zone, with a robot in mind
A light disc fertiliser shown at a Dutch demo day places liquid plant nutrition directly in the soil, and its backers want to build it into an electric robot that refills itself at a docking station.
AgrotechDutch think tank opens a novel food "sandbox" the EU left out
The Ministry of Future Affairs has launched the New Foods RegLab to give 10 startups making cultivated meat and precision-fermented proteins pre-submission advice on EU approval, and will share findings with EFSA.
AgrotechSemillas Fitó and Hudson River team up to gene-edit tomato breeding lines
Spanish seed company Semillas Fitó and Dutch genome-editing firm Hudson River Biotechnology have agreed a long-term partnership to create new genetic variation in tomatoes, starting with disease and pest resistance.
CropsOnly 10% of maize and wheat water-saving studies hold up, Wageningen meta-study finds
Of 208 field experiments since 1983, just 21 had the data to judge water productivity properly, and the real variation was far smaller than the claimed 20-40% savings suggest.
LivestockFAO names Dutch veterinary team a reference centre for antimicrobial resistance in animals
The FAO has recognised Utrecht University's veterinary faculty and Wageningen Bioveterinary Research as a joint reference centre for antimicrobial resistance, to support surveillance in animals and the food chain, guidelines, training and capacity building in low- and middle-income countries.
AgrotechCroptimal launches a cheaper mounted robot that spots disease in seed potatoes
The mounted Croptiscan 3000 scans a 3 m strip at about 5 km/h, marks plants with Y-virus or leaf roll for removal and costs €95,000, against €175,000 for the self-propelled version.
AgrotechDutch consortium bets on continuous fermentation to cut alternative protein costs
The two-year EcoFerm project, funded by TKI Agri & Food, will test a continuous fermentation method that keeps microbes in the bioreactor, to make animal-free proteins such as whey cheaper to produce.
AgrotechAgrifac's hybrid self-propelled sprayer prototype cuts diesel use by about half
The Dutch maker is showing a diesel-electric Vanguard 55 with an 80 kWh battery at AgroTechniek Holland; a year of tests suggests around 50% diesel savings and the prospect of a fully electric working day.
EnvironmentDutch water minister: Europe's droughts need many measures, and India has lessons too
After a record-dry summer, the Netherlands is restoring river meanders, storing more water in the IJsselmeer and capping groundwater pumping, Vice Minister Jaap Slootmaker told Down To Earth as India and the Netherlands signed water MoUs.
FlowersKeukenhof: the Dutch tulip garden at its most colourful in April
Known as the Garden of Europe, Keukenhof opens from mid-March to the first week of May with tulips, daffodils and hyacinths; tickets go on sale in mid-October.
CropsDutch dairy farmers trial rice on rewetted peatland to cut emissions and subsidence
A 0.6-hectare pilot between Amsterdam and The Hague, run with Wageningen and Leiden researchers, is testing about 30 rice cultivars on peat kept wet to stop it drying, sinking and releasing CO2.
AgrotechMS Schippers brings a self-driving barn-cleaning robot to Canadian pig farms
The Dutch firm's MS Smart Cleaning Robot foams, pressure-washes and disinfects livestock barns in one autonomous pass, finding its way with 3D LiDAR and no manual programming.
AgrotechWageningen opens CIBIA, a facility to speed food innovations from lab to market
The new Wageningen University & Research centre combines technology and product development with consumer testing, using digital twins and AI to optimise prototype foods.
EnvironmentThermal cameras and AI record bird collisions at an offshore wind turbine
A year-long pilot at the Hollandse Kust Zuid wind farm used 16 thermal cameras and AI to watch birds and bats around a turbine, logging 22 possible collisions, two of them confirmed.
CropsEurope's processing-potato heartland harvests almost a quarter less
DCA Market Intelligence puts the 2026 crop in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany at about 20.8 million tonnes after acreage cuts and a hot, dry season.
AgrotechDutch fruit grower says driverless tractors need implements that talk back
Peter Baars mows his apple and pear orchards with an autonomous Fendt and maps every tree with a roof camera, but says full trust needs tractor and implement to communicate and stop themselves.
LivestockVets alerted to a bulging-eye syndrome in piglets linked to a new parvovirus
Britain's APHA has asked pig vets to watch for a new disease syndrome, tied to a novel parvovirus variant, found on farms in the Netherlands and on one breeding farm in Denmark.
EnvironmentIrish-led review maps a path to farming rewetted peatlands at scale
A study from the €10m Palus Demos project says paludiculture can keep peat carbon locked up while earning farmers an income, but needs long-term trials, suitable machinery and markets.
Crops
Biographica and Hudson River join forces to take crop traits from gene target to edited variety
A UK gene-discovery startup and a Dutch genome-editing specialist will offer breeders a single route from trait problem to edited plant, starting with tomatoes.
Agrotech
Ecorobotix shows 12-metre ARA 1200 spot sprayer for the first time
Swiss maker Ecorobotix has unveiled a prototype 12-metre ARA 1200 spot sprayer at the AgroTechniek Holland fair, priced at about €210,000, with a 9-metre ARA 900 alongside it.
Agrotech
Odd.Bot adds GPS and a second geofence to its Maverick weeding robot
The Dutch robot builder is showing an updated Maverick at the AgroTechniek Holland fair, with GPS as a check on headland turns, two geofences and a renewed control app, and plans to sell its weeding units to other manufacturers.
Agrotech
Swiss Rigitrac SKE 40, an electric tractor built from scratch, arrives in the Netherlands
Importer Hissink is bringing the Rigitrac SKE 40 Electric to the Dutch market, a tractor designed as an electric machine from the ground up that it says runs four to six hours a charge and starts at €190,000.
Agrotech
Electric Fendt e107 beats its diesel twin on power and noise, not on battery life
A two-week test of the Fendt e107 Vario against a diesel 207 Vario in Norway and the Netherlands found the electric tractor stronger, quieter and far more efficient, with two to two-and-a-half hours of heavy PTO work per charge its main limit.
VideoDutch Farmer Jan Grows Rich on Jersey Cattle and Cheese
In Lunteren, near Wageningen University, Jan Dirk van der Voort's family dairy farm feeds 90 cows on 40-year-old pasture and makes cheese sold at four times ordinary prices.
VideoFlora Holland, a Giant Hub of the Flower Trade
Shykh Seraj visits Flora Holland in Aalsmeer, the Netherlands, one of the world's biggest flower auction centres, in a report filmed in 2015.
VideoKeukenhof, a Paradise of Flowers in the Netherlands
Shykh Seraj visits Keukenhof, the world's second-largest flower garden, where tulips in thousands of colours tell a 400-year story of trade and beauty.
Crops
Crops Grow Like Magic in the Netherlands' Plant Factories
In Dutch greenhouse 'plant factories', computers measure each crop's needs and control nutrients, LED light and temperature to maximise yield.
Agribusiness
The Netherlands, Unique in the History of Trade and Industry
Keukenhof, a vast tulip garden open to tourists two months a year, stands at the centre of a Dutch flower trade that supplies 60 per cent of the world's flowers.
Livestock
Texel, the Netherlands' Kingdom of Sheep
On the Dutch island of Texel, family sheep farms with strict stocking limits produce world-famous sheep's milk cheese.
Agrotech
Windmills, a Living Legacy of Dutch Civilisation
Shykh Seraj visits Zaanse Schans, where 12 of some 13,000 historic Dutch windmills still work, a reminder of how old the idea of renewable energy is.