The project Farming with future works with parties with a vested interest to promote sustainable crop protection in practice. Besides developing new knowledge, it spends a good deal of its energy in the embedding of sustainable practices within relevant organisations, businesses and agrarian entrepreneurs in order to make these practices permanent features of their activities

Wijnands, F.G.

English

Name not available

Farming with future: making crop protection sustainable

Wijnands, F.

Organic Eprints

NARCIS 

Wageningen Yield 

 18 < syscope > 19 
Farming with future (2003-2010), a collaboration between 
Wageningen UR and DLV Advies, is active in the entire crop produc-
tion sector in the Netherlands. The project works together with entre-
preneurs and stakeholders in the field to test, develop and promote 
strategies and methods for sustainable crop protection. The stake-
holders in crop protection are mainly the parties that have signed the 
crop protection covenant. These are the producers of crop protection 
products brought together under Nefyto and the dealers that form the 
organization Agrodis, the ministries of Economic Affairs & Innovation, 
and that of Infrastructure and the Environment, the Union of Water 
Boards (UvW), the united drinking water boards (VEWIN) and the  
agricultural organisations that form LTO Nederland. 
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The project Farming with future works with parties with a vested interest to promote sustainable crop 
protection in practice. Besides developing new knowledge, it spends a good deal of its energy in the 
embedding of sustainable practices within relevant organisations, businesses and agrarian 
entrepreneurs in order to make these practices permanent features of their activities.
Farming with future: making  
crop protection sustainable
Best practices
The knowledge column
Wageningen UR was commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation in 2004 to develop a classification  
system to make an inventory of the knowledge column in crop protection for the first research project via best practices to good practices. 
Best practices are integrated crop protection measures which are not yet used in the field by most parties but which have the potential to 
contribute to a reduction in environmental impact. They arise, in general, from current or finished research. By the term “good practices”  
we mean effective and feasible measures for widespread use in the field. A “best practice” only becomes a “good practice” if it is attainable 
for 70-80% of all growers. A sector specific list of best practices is drawn up and published every two years by Farming with future in consul-
tation with LTO (2004, 2006, 2009). The project then tests and develops the best practices in the field. A number of them grow to become 
robust good practices; others are impeded by obstructions (work, risk, implementation, etc.) and have to be further worked on in research 
and/or in the field.
Examples from the 2009 best practice agenda for arable and vegetable crops
 Arable farming:
 •  biomass sensors on the spraying machines to determine dosage when applying herbicides to defoliate potatoes,
 •  control strategies for fungal disease in grain and root crops,
 • weed control in maize,
 • guided control of thrips in onions,
 • control of leaf fungi  in sugar beet.
 Open field vegetables:
 •  different aspects in strawberry cultivation: phytophthora control, testing trianum (new organic pesticide), organic soil disinfectant and 
cultivation on ridges,
 • decision support systems for stemphyllium control in asparagus,
 • guided control of thrips in leeks with the aid of perfumes.
Farming with future tries out new techniques, such as hoeing equipment for the mechanical removal of weeds, in the cultivation of trees for urban areas - a key sector in Dutch horticulture.
Stakeholders have the ball in their court
Stakeholders have a direct (via business or personal contacts) or indirect (the atmosphere or climate which surrounds socially relevant theme 
and current issues) influence on the mind set and behaviour of entrepreneurs. In this way they can contribute towards the desired process of 
sustainability in crop protection. They can convince farmers of the usefulness and the need for sustainability and they can recommend good 
practices. Moreover, stakeholders determine directly or indirectly the pre-conditions for sustainability (laws, regulations, collaboration meth-
ods and how problems should be tackled, etc.) for today and for the future; together they form the “regime” in the crop protection system. 
Regime is a term taken from transition thinking and stands for the entire system of institutions, their networks, relationships and procedures. 
Together they “determine” the culture, how things are done, what the dominant procedures are; the written and unwritten rules. It is charac-
teristic of the transition that agriculture is going through that traditional values and ‘certainties’ in the regime are disappearing. Under the 
influence of new issues and themes such as socially accountable entrepreneurship and sustainability, stakeholders in the regime are search-
ing for a new interpretation of their changing roles and relationships. This is characteristic for system innovation. Farming with future wants 
to facilitate this quest by stakeholders and wants to promote any opportunities to stimulate the utilization of sustainable practices in the field. 
The project Farming with future was designed to support the 
covenant targets in the area of “Promotion of innovation and 
improvement of management”. We see the effort and commitment 
of the vested interests as being essential to the process of  
sustainability (see box Stakeholders have the ball in their court)
>> Developing relevant knowledge
Farming with future’s knowledge agenda consists of so called 
best Practices: promising sustainable methods and measures  
that still need to be tested in the field to make them ripe (effective 
and attainable) for practice. (see box Best Practices). Farming with 
 20 < syscope > 21 
For more information: Frank Wijnands, t +31 320 291621, e frank.wijnands@wur.nl
Figure: The stakeholder management process characterised in three phases. B/F/M 
stands for respectively Blockers, Floaters and Movers, see text.
future works on a total of about 30 new best practices annually in 
all different sub-sectors of the crop production sector. Most prac-
tices are tested for some years together with selected entrepre-
neurs and interested parties who can and want to work together  
for a particular measure. The testing and demonstration of best 
practices takes place on commercial farms, in study club groups 
or at research farms belonging to Wageningen UR. Many best  
practices have become good practices (see box Best Practices) 
and are disseminated in the agricultural network. Farming with 
future has described 65 good practices in a series of flyers and 
these have been widely distributed.
>> Knowledge circulation 
Farming with future communicates with all interested parties in the 
regions and sectors where it is active: in total more than two hun-
dred stakeholders. The aim of the talks is to explore the possibilities 
for common distribution of knowledge on more sustainable crop 
protection. Which measures can rely on support from the stakehold-
ers and under what conditions? Can we fulfil these conditions togeth-
er in order to facilitate the involvement of the stakeholders? In past 
years hundreds of collaborative activities have been launched in this 
way, varying from contributions at member evenings, articles in  
professional journals, publication of flyers and brochures as well  
as practical demonstrations, show days and informative meetings. 
The collaboration between entrepreneurs, stakeholders and Farming 
with future has in this way been the motivating force behind the 
distribution of sustainable methods and techniques.
>> Perspectives on sustainability
Farming with future builds on this collaboration by intensifying the 
bilateral and multilateral talks with stakeholders to establish what 
sustainability means to them, what their ambitions are in this 
respect and how that is implemented in their business practice  
and how this can affect entrepreneurs in the field. In this way,  
it becomes clear what the vested interests are and what criteria  
(the conditions which need to be fulfilled) must be met to ensure 
active involvement. 
Farming with future uses all sorts of methods to bring stakeholders 
together and involves them in a common course of action. The  
confrontation with each other and the differing perspectives on  
the sustainability problem and the possible solutions, promotes  
self-reflection about positions, vested interests and the way in 
which these can be served. This method of working often offers  
an unexpected wealth of starting points for the exploration of 
opportunities for individual and/or coordinated action. Stakeholders 
ask questions of each other, call one another to account or make 
suggestions for concrete action.
Within each group of stakeholders we see individual businesses and 
organisations moving forward and creating new initiatives to give 
shape to sustainable behaviour. In many cases Farming with future 
is approached to work as a partner in their activities. Also more 
and more coordinated forms of action evolve from the established 
contacts offering stakeholders the perspective to contribute to the 
intended change in a coordinated manner in line with their own 
interests.
>> Stakeholdermanagement and enrolment
The methodological approach taken by Farming with future is called 
Stakeholder Management [see box] and is aimed at enrolment of 
the stakeholders: that they take (over) responsibility for sustainable 
crop protection and behave in more sustainable ways. The stake-
holder manager fosters the integration of sustainability into the 
thinking and behaviour of businesses and organisations, allowing 
for their own identity. 
Being a stakeholder manager is not an easy task. The stakeholder 
manager has to be committed to the change and have the personal 
drive to contribute to it. It requires new expertise and new process 
management skills. To this end, appropriate training courses were 
organised specifically for the stakeholder managers. Join our expe-
rience, stakeholder management is an excellent instrument to con-
tribute to system innovations, because it allows for addressing the 
necessary organisational and institutional changes next to the tech-
nological ones.
Stakeholder management is a methodologi-
cal approach designed to initiate and facili-
tate change processes by effectively influ-
encing the stakeholders to act in their own 
interests in line with a well defined intended 
change target. A stakeholder is a person 
who has a felt interest in the outcome of 
the intended change (Donaldson and 
Preston, 1995), yet to be implemented. 
Stakeholder management is ultimately the 
outcome of the change process that counts 
for every stakeholder (Freeman, 1984). 
Stakeholder management originates in  
the private sector and is in Farming with 
future reworked for use in the public sector. 
The term management is here used in 
terms of organising, initiating, stimulating 
and facilitating. Stakeholder management is 
divided into three phases that are described 
below:
The inform phase: 
•  In this phase the stakeholder manager 
(STMA) communicates the need for 
change and the change objectives to  
all stakeholders. Stakeholders deter-
mine what is at stake for them, how it 
interacts with their interests and what 
their position in relation to this target/
goal is or will be. 
•  The STMA informs himself on the atti-
tude and behaviour of the stakeholders 
(individuals) towards the intended 
change and categorizes it by asking 
himself the following questions: Which 
stakeholders support the goals and are 
willing to make an active contribution 
(Mover), which ones have reservations 
or conditions (Floater) and which ones 
oppose the change because they have 
an opposite and therefore conflicting 
interest regarding the change targets 
(Blocker). He maps the position of the 
stakeholders and their interests in a  
network and stakeholder analysis and 
re-evaluates it regularly as basis for  
the design of his actions. 
•  The STMA starts working with the mov-
ers to initiate new actions which pro-
mote the desired change. The STMA  
is keen to bring movers together in a 
leading coalition for change.
The consult phase 
•  In this phase the STMA consults the 
stakeholders about the change and  
their contribution. He uses three basic 
principles to influence stakeholders,  
1) by increasing the pressure to 
become active by using confrontation; 
2) by giving insight into the problems 
and possible solutions; and 3) by tempt-
ing stakeholders to get involved by 
claiming the need for their unique contri-
bution (see also Cialdini, 2001). The 
final aim is to stimulate stakeholders to 
re-evaluate their position and interests 
and ensure that they become involved. 
•  Scenarios, breakthrough solutions and 
modes of actions are explored by the 
STMA and movers in order to find new 
feasible ways to contribute to the 
intended change. New activities are 
started. The STMA is omnipresent; he is 
facilitator, broker, and accelerator all at 
the same time.
•  The blockers are specifically addressed 
and confronted in this phase. Their 
objections have to be dealt with to 
strengthen the solutions of the movers. 
Their cooperation is needed in order to 
ensure a sustainable change. The STMA 
has to find out how to incorporate their 
criteria in the search directions so that 
the change serves their interests as 
well. 
The collaborate phase
•  The stakeholders take over the respon-
sibility for the change, it becomes their 
change. The new, more sustainable way 
of working that fits the stakeholders’ 
everyday reality, the elaborated scenari-
os and fruitful collaborations of the 
cnsult phase, are rolled out to realise 
the change.
•  The STMA now retreats to a more  
supporting role to coach the enrolled 
stakeholders in their activities in order 
to embed the change in their organisa-
tions and roll it out in their network. 
•  The STMA remains active to embed the 
change in the institutional networks. He 
however, only undertakes activities in 
close consultation with his stakeholders.
•  In this last phase floaters will follow what 
now has become the general trend. 
The STMA guides the stakeholders through 
the three phases from “the freedom of 
choice to the responsibility of choice”. The 
intended change is considered necessary 
and stakeholders have interests that are 
linked to the change. The change cannot  
be realised without their professional input 
and support. In the process towards the 
intended change it is no longer possible  
to be indifferent. The stakeholder must  
get involved or at least make a conscious  
decision on their role and position. 
Stakeholder enrolment is the name for the 
process in which the stakeholders increas-
ingly take over ownership of the change 
process. An enrolled stakeholder has a  
positive attitude towards the change, sees 
a role for his organisation and works hard 
to find feasible ways to contribute to the 
change by his actions and he also influenc-
es others in his network to become involved 
as well.
Stakeholder management


Farming with future: making crop protection sustainable

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