The organic market in the Netherlands

The organic sector in the Netherlands is varied and vibrant. To be able to adequately respond to market trens, opportunities and threats, farmers and their partners in the production chains need high quality information about consumption and trends. To facilitate organic farmers and producers, Wageningen UR and the Louis Bolk Institute carry out a variety of research aimed specifically at organic markets and production chains. The report contains sector facts, sector aspirations, current affairs and research projects

Organic chains in the United Kingdom and Germany: lessons for Dutch organic agribusiness

This report was presented at the UK Organic Research 2002 Conference. This paper presents lessons for Dutch organic agribusiness based on a study of the UK and Germany. The following lessons are drawn: public-private cooperation is desirable for the sake of further development; the supermarket chain is necessary in order to achieve a large market share; consumers and supermarket chains subject organic products to at least the same demands that they have for regular products; communication: [1] a task for the government and market parties, [2] striving for one mark of quality [3] health is the driving motivation, although not communicated as such; organic agriculture has more chains and more segments

A permeabilized cell model for studying cell division: a comparison of anaphase chromosome movement and cleavage furrow constriction in lysed PtK1 cells.

After lysis in a Brij 58-polyethylene glycol medium, PtK1 cells are permeable to small molecules, such as erythrosin B, and to proteins, such as rhodamine-labeled FAB, myosin subfragment-1, and tubulin. Holes are present in the plasma membrane, and the mitochondria are swollen and distorted, but other membrane-bounded organelles of the lysed cell model are not noticeably altered. After lysis, the mitotic apparatus is functional; chromosomes move poleward and the spindle elongates. Cells lysed while in cytokinesis will continue to divide for several minutes. Addition of crude tubulin extracts, MAP-free tubulin, or taxol to the lysis medium retards anaphase chromosome movements but does not affect cleavage. On the other hand, N-ethylmaleimide-modified myosin subfragment-1, phalloidin, and cytochalasin B inhibit cleavage but have no effect on anaphase chromosome movements under identical lysis conditions. These results suggest that actomyosin plays no functional role in anaphase chromosome movement in mammalian tissue culture cells and that microtubule depolymerization is a rate-limiting step for chromosome-to-pole movements

Continuous measurements of real-life bidirectional pedestrian flows on a wide walkway

Employing partially overlapping overhead \kinectTMS sensors and automatic pedestrian tracking algorithms we recorded the crowd traffic in a rectilinear section of the main walkway of Eindhoven train station on a 24/7 basis. Beside giving access to the train platforms (it passes underneath the railways), the walkway plays an important connection role in the city. Several crowding scenarios occur during the day, including high- and low-density dynamics in uni- and bi-directional regimes. In this paper we discuss our recording technique and we illustrate preliminary data analyses. Via fundamental diagrams-like representations we report pedestrian velocities and fluxes vs. pedestrian density. Considering the density range $0$ - $1.1\,$ped/m$^2$, we find that at densities lower than $0.8\,$ped/m$^2$ pedestrians in unidirectional flows walk faster than in bidirectional regimes. On the opposite, velocities and fluxes for even bidirectional flows are higher above $0.8\,$ped/m$^2$.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Slechts enkeling winkelt bewust

Negen op de tien mensen winkelen zonder nadenken. Slechts een kleine minderheid is actief op zoek naar informatie over duurzaamheid en dierenwelzijn. Eten moet vooral lekker, gezond, makkelijk en betaalbaar zijn, blijkt uit onderzoek van het LE

A Cross Country Comparison of the Development of the Organic Sector in Denmark, Germany, United Kingdom and the Netherlands

The aim of this article is to test the thesis "commitment of retail chains as well as favourable policy conditions are the main drivers of the steady market growth of organic agriculture in Europe." (Yussefi and Willer, 2003). Therefore, the role of government policy and of retail chains in four European countries - Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands - are analysed. It seems that the collaboration between government, chain participants and NGOs is of considerable importance, in which active stimulation and the provision of guidance to the channel from the retail chains, in combination with an active and stimulating government policy, can cause an impulse in growth. It should be noted that other factors must also be present in order for market players to convert; likewise, consumer demand should be well developed.Farm Management,

Monitoring groene grondstoffen

Het Platform Groene Grondstoffen heeft een monitoringsmethodiek laten ontwikkelen waarmee het aandeel biomassa dat bijdraagt aan de economie kan worden vastgesteld. Dit rapport beschrijft hoe de monitor is ontwikkeld en waar nog hiaten in de kennis zitten

Verandering laat zich lastig sturen

Hoe de overheid de overgang naar een biobased economy moet aansturen is een ingewikkeld vraagstuk. Dat laat onderzoek van het LEI zien. Er ligt geen afvinklijstje klaar waarmee de overheid deze transitie kan redigeren. De overheid kan zich het best goed verdiepen in wat het bedrijfsleven wil en kan, en daar haar beleid op afstemme