Comment by jeeeeb | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jeeeeb | Hacker News Reader

Not to talk down the Dutch achievement too much but the quality of statistics used in this article is terrible.

Total monetary value of agricultural exports is a terrible way to measure output. It doesn't take into account: 1. Re-exports (Rotterdam is the largest port in Europe) 2. Specialisation in the production of certain goods (i.e. high imports and exports) 3. The high price of agricultural goods in Europe, driven by high trade barriers. 4. Low domestic consumption compared to more populous nations.

For a better analysis of the monetary value of Dutch agricultural exports see here: https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/news/2018/03/dutch-agricultural-exp...

Note for example the 22.5 billion Euros in re-exports of agricultural goods.

90% reduction in water usage is also hard to judge without looking at changes in other advanced agricultural nations.

It would be more interesting to see the yields per-hectare the Dutch are achieving compared to other advanced agricultural nations.

> It doesn't take into account: 1. Re-exports (Rotterdam is the largest port in Europe)

At some point during Ceausescu’s later years Romania (my country) was one of the largest exporters of bananas in the world, as Romania was trading with many African countries using barter: we give you tractors and Romanian-built replicas of the AK-47, you give us bananas. Those bananas were later re-sold by the Romanian Government for much needed foreign currency.

It's in Dutch buy you can read about that here:

http://statline.cbs.nl/StatWeb/publication/?PA=7100oogs

Few examples (2017 data):

  Potatoes    36 900 kg/ha
  Sugar beets 93 300 kg/ha
  Wheat        9 100 kg/ha
  Rye          3 200 kg/ha
  Corn        13 500 kg/ha - 48 900 kg/ha (different kinds)
  Onions      55 700 kg/ha

One would not expect The Netherlands to export so much in the presence of "high trade barriers". But I strongly suspect that trade barriers between European Union Members to be very low.

Low transport costs also helped The Netherlands achieve this position. Numerous highways, railways and waterways connect it to it's neighbours.

The Netherlands is in the EU. They have total unrestricted access to the EU market, which is exactly where the vast majority of their agricultural exports go.

The EU isn't a free market when it comes to agricultural produce at all, thanks to the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy)[1].

E.g. just in the last year[2] central planning for how much quantity of sugar beets each country could produce was finally phased out, with the Dutch expecting in production of up to 25% as a result[3].

This was one of the grand bargains of the EU. In exchange for the likes of France, Spain etc. joining the union they wanted guarantees that these politically sensitive sectors of their economy wouldn't be subject to real competition.

So production in countries like The Netherlands is artificially low since a combination of quotas and other central planning restricts production.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Agricultural_Policy#Equ...

2. http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-17-3488_en.htm

3. https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2017/01/dutch-sugar-cooperativ...

He means trade barriers against cheap food from developing countries like Africa. The EU blocks such imports with high tariffs mostly to protect French agriculture, but it has the advantage of allowing the Dutch to invest in super high tech farming. Sucks for consumers though. Food is more expensive in Europe than the USA and that's why.

One of the gains in yield per hectare is given right at the start of the article. 20 as opposed to 9 tons per hectare.

Though that’s a global average, and may be just as amazing in the US.

The graph labelled "Punching above its weight" is a graph of comparative yields, which looks very impressive for the Dutch.

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