Gorter farm
Kees Gorter in the Netherlands shares his view on sustainability.
What is your view on sustainability – what does it mean to you?
KG: To remain profitable and stay in business is obviously most important, but in order to do that I have to take good care of my cows. If your cows are treated in a sustainable manner so is your business.
Please describe your sustainable solutions or practices:
KG: In partnership with two other farmers I own and run a biogas plant. There are two digester tanks, six metre high and 15 metres wide. Currently they generate 550 kW an hour. The concrete floor is scraped every hour and teh manure is pumped approximately three times a day to the digester (in total ± 12 m³/day).
The biogas plant makes me more confident as it makes me less dependent on outside resources. There are some heavy investments made and at this point we reach break-even, and we believe it will become more profitable in the longer run.
To improve cow comfort I have just invested in a new barn with cow brushes, wider stalls, wider alleys, rubber floors, insolated roof and a climate computer. Further, the barn is also equipped with long-day lightning, which means they have 16 hours of daylight 365 days a year no matter the season.
I consider it vital to please the needs and demands of the consumer, which includes my neighbors and fellow citizens. The biogas plant provides electricity from manure and off-farm biowaste for the farm but also for the 1000 to 1,500 other households that are connected to the national grid.
Why did you decide to go in a sustainable direction?
KG: I had a black-out one day and my common-sense told me this was the right thing to do. . . No that wasn’t the case! It all began with a local confederation of agriculture, farmers in the area meet to discuss more cosmetic issues such as planting trees and flowers. Me and my two partners met there and we felt we wanted to commit to something bigger and more in-depth.
How do you feel about the reports in media on dairy farming’s contribution to the climate change?
KG: Of course we as dairy farmers have to take responsibility for our actions and the impact our business has on the environment, but frankly I consider farmers an easy target. It’s easy for politicians to gain votes just by looking over the fence and blame livestock for the problems with green house emissions. To put it in a different perspective, if you’d put 100 cows and 100 cars in a barn, who do you think has the greatest impact on climate? If they should start solving the so called cow problem they should start in India. India has the biggest cow population in the world and the cows there have far more impact on the environment than in this part of the world, as everything is strictly regulated here. Our problem in the western world is that a cow is not a part of our daily struggle to stay alive anymore.
Have you noticed any reaction from the community/the consumers?
KG: Every now and then I guide and show our facilities to at least two or three groups, so there’s no doubt that there is a major interest in the community. Everyone considers our sustainable investments wonderful at first sight and are eager to learn more, but at the end of the day banks and bureaucrats have little interest in making our life easier.
Have you felt the impact of the climate change?
KG: There are changes for sure, there have hardly been any good winters here over the last years. However, at the same time it’s difficult for me to evaluate the long term perspective, a part from comments from old people in the community who say that the winter season was much colder back in the old days.
What opportunities are there in working sustainably?
KG: Giving my kids and the generations to come a cleaner environment, that’s the main reason for going sustainable, isn’t it?
What are the challenges in working sustainably?
KG: As I mentioned before, finances and bureaucracy. There are a lot of “paper tigers” trying to hunt you down.
What is the main difference from ‘conventional’ dairy farming?
KG: It’s really no major difference apart from the fact that you have to be more profitable in order to be able to make all investments.
Where do you see yourself going from here?
KG: In the short run it’s to make sure I get return on investments, to increase profits from all investments. A dream I have is to maybe quit farming ten years from now and become a consultant on how to build a sustainable dairy.
What advice would you give to do those considering making changes to more sustainable solutions?
KG: As the world looks today, I would advice my colleagues around the world to ride out the financial storm and wait with heavy investments in this biogas plant technology. Governments have to take their responsibility and set up programs and infrastructure for subsidies for farmers and others who are willing to invest in sustainable solutions.
Milk production facts:
Number of dairy cows and breed: 150 Holstein-Friesian
How many people work on the farm? 2
Total milk produced per year? 1,350,000 kg
Average yield per cow? 9200 kg milk
% of fat and protein? 4.4% fat and 3.5% protein
Somatic cell count, SCC? 150,000 to 200,000
Total bacteria count? 6 000 to 10 000
What do you grow? Grass, corn and wheat, barley, special energy corn, grain corn, silage corn
Number of acres? 150 ha
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