Beerling, E.A.M.

Heinen, M.

Verkerke, W.

Vermeulen, T.

Voogt, W.

English

Wageningen Yield 

 53 
Complying with Society’s Demands - Solving the Emission Problem 
Caused by Irrigation Surplus in Greenhouses  
 
E. Beerlinga, W. Voogt, T. Vermeulen and W. Verkerke M. Heinen 
Wageningen UR Greenhouse Horticulture Wageningen UR Alterra 
Violierenweg 1 Droevendaalsesteeg 4 
2665 MV Bleiswijk 6708 PB Wageningen 
The Netherlands The Netherlands 
 
Keywords: emission, water, nutrients, pesticides, society, transition, innovation 
 
Abstract 
Irrigation surplus is a commonly used strategy in soil grown crops in 
greenhouses in the European Union. This leads to emissions of both nutrients and 
plant protection agents, resulting in problems with the quality of ground and surface 
water. New European regulations will be implemented, limiting the amount of 
nutrients and plant protection agents to be released in the environment. These 
developments pose a serious challenge – or threat – to commercial growers in 
Europe. We develop innovative solutions that aim at social, economic and 
environmental sustainable production systems. These solutions can only be 
implemented successfully when all stakeholders are involved in the process and show 
their commitment. An overview of our strategy, actions and projects is presented. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
For several decades research of Wageningen UR has dedicated considerable 
scientific effort to the study of plant nutrition and crop protection. After World War II, 
Western society simply asked for products, and our efforts contributed to an increase in 
both yield and product quality. We studied nutrient uptake of various greenhouse flower 
and food crops, learned about nutrient deficiencies, introduced substrates as a rooting 
medium for some crops, developed good agricultural practices for plant nutrition, 
improved yields, and gradually understood the trade-off between yield and quality in 
greenhouse production systems. Over the years many scientific and popular papers were 
published, which were recently summarized by Sonneveld and Voogt (2009). Also, crop 
protection systems were developed and refined over the years, resulting in biological pest 
control and integrated pest management (e.g. De Buck and Beerling, 2006; Van der Lans 
et al., 2008).  
Over the recent years, society’s demands are changing. People are increasingly 
aware of the impact that agricultural production systems have on the natural environment. 
More recently, European Union regulations such as the water framework directive 
(European Union, 2000) and nitrate directive (European Union, 1991) that aim at safe and 
good water quality were developed and imposed. As a result, local initiatives are now 
emerging in which new coalitions cooperate towards the common goal of sustainable 
production (e.g. Thoenes, 2009).  
Especially soil grown greenhouse crops require high fertilisation rates. Over-
irrigation is common practice to prevent any shortness for uptake at minimal costs. Also, 
it induces salinity stress for quality improvement and as a result, leaching of nutrients (N 
and P) occurs. Both nutrients and plant protection agents follow the water flow, and the 
reduction of waste water is becoming an issue in dense greenhouse areas like in the 
Netherlands. This waste water is discharged to municipal waste water systems and into 
surface water, containing high concentrations of both nutrients (Balthus and Volkers-
Verboom, 2005; Wunderink, 1996; Boers, 1996) and residues of plant protection agents 
(Teunissen, 2005). Even in closed irrigation systems with cultivation on substrates, drain 
is sometimes inevitable. The regional collection and purification of drain water to 
                                                 
a Ellen.Beerling@wur.nl 
Proc. 6th IS on Irrigation of Hort. Crops 
Eds.: S. Ortega-Farias and G. Selles  
Acta Hort. 889, ISHS 2011 
 54 
irrigation water has been proposed (Van der Velde et al., 2008), but an alternative 
solution could be the redesign of production systems with no-emission as a primary 
design rule. This, however, requires a transition towards new sustainable agricultural 
production systems. Therefore, we started an integrated research project to develop such 
social, economic and environmental sustainable production systems. These systems can 
only be successfully implemented when all stakeholders are involved in the innovation 
process and show their commitment. We work on solutions by bringing different 
stakeholders together. An overview of our strategy, actions and projects is presented here. 
A comparison is made with transition processes in agriculture and with the current energy 
transition in the Dutch greenhouse industry. 
 
TRANSITION PROCESSES IN AGRICULTURE 
Transitions can be defined as planned structural societal changes towards 
sustainability (Poppe et al., 2009). Transition processes in agriculture towards sustainable 
production systems are well documented (Wijnands and Vogelezang, 2009; Vogelezang 
and Wijnands, 2009). Their strategy consists of six actions, viz., (1) Inspire stakeholders 
through identification of opportunities and shared future scenarios; (2) Identify trends and 
critical transition points with stakeholders; (3) Innovate through the generation of new 
insights and proof-of-principle projects; (4) Connect people by organizing workshops, 
innovation café’s and coalitions for innovation; (5) Stimulate innovators through 
individual coaching and networks of early adopters, and finally (6) Broaden the initiatives 
by the construction of demonstrators, organizing excursions and sharing the knowledge in 
virtual and physical knowledge centers. A typical feature in the innovation process is the 
cooperation with stakeholders to identify trends and transition points in an “innovation 
agenda” (Fig. 1). After such a platform is created, specific research can be carried out. 
Through a process of analysis and design, ‘innovation projects” with pioneering growers 
(Fig. 1, stars in the right hand arrow) can be set up. The “networks of early adopting 
growers” (Fig. 1, left hand arrow) may both contribute to and learn from these innovation 
projects. The successful elements from these innovation projects can be directly used by 
the participants at their own companies. Through the formation of networks of early 
adopting growers, experience and knowledge can be shared and spread. Gradually, early 
adopting growers may become pioneers themselves. 
 
THE ENERGY TRANSITION 
Over the recent years, a transition is taking place in the Dutch greenhouse industry 
from energy consuming towards energy production (Roza, 2006). This has resulted in a 
joint innovation agenda and research programme “Kas als Energiebron” (The Greenhouse 
as Energy Source) which generated enthusiasm und confidence among stakeholders, 
initiated numerous initiatives and created a vast body of new knowledge (see website Kas 
als Energiebron, 2009). It also lead to innovation projects with pioneering growers such 
as Greenport Glasshouse in Venlo (Verkerke and Vermeulen, 2008) and the Energy 
Producing Greenhouse in Bergerden (De Zwart et al., 2008). These innovation projects 
showed that a reduction of the use of fossil energy was really possible and also allowed 
growers to learn by doing, generating enthusiastic responses from stakeholders. Networks 
of early adopting growers, either national or local have played a role the transfer of 
knowledge to early adopting growers, stimulating them to use innovative technology 
(Verkerke, 2008). The elements of the innovation process from Figure 1, viz.,  
“innovation agenda”, “innovation projects” and “networks of early adopting growers” are 
thus clearly discernible in this energy transition. We participated and learned from this 
transition, and now try to set up a transition towards emission free greenhouses. 
 
THE START OF AN EMISSION TRANSITION 
With support by the System Innovation programme of the Dutch Ministry of 
Agriculture and SenterNovem, we started an integrated research project. One of our first 
actions was the organisation of a series of workshops with all relevant stakeholders to 
 55 
design emission free production systems. We do not aim at an incremental innovation but 
want to redesign the production system, starting from the prerequisite of emission free.  
In the workshops we exchanged knowledge on the implementation of good and 
best practices and developed plans of requirement for emission-free cropping systems. 
We pictured a vision of “Emission-free Horticulture” and designed pathways to reach this 
vision. Subsequently we analysed the knowledge needed and identified knowledge gaps. 
Several case crops were used to guide the selection of proof-of-principle experiments 
towards applicable and relevant concepts. These proof-of-principle experiments are 
scheduled for this and the following year. The determinant factors in this process are the 
joint identification of motivations for change, bottlenecks and possible solutions, and, 
most important, the creation of mutual confidence among different actors. This 
confidence is a prerequisite for the future creation of an “innovation agenda” (Fig. 1). The 
next step could be a nation-wide broadening of the confidence with more stakeholders 
and national acceptance of the pathways recognized. We foresee that it will need more 
multi-stakeholder sessions to allow for the creation of an innovation agenda. When a 
pioneering grower decides to invest in one of the generated solutions of the proof-of 
principle experiments, we can start an innovation project (Fig. 1, right hand arrow). 
We have also started “networks of early adopting growers” (Fig. 1, left hand 
arrow). In these networks we also search for congruent interests, resulting in common 
goals, but there is also room for the individual interests of the different partners. Such 
networks were established in the province of Limburg and in the Bommelerwaard polder. 
The participating growers meet on a regular base at their own companies, and discuss the 
different strategies used. Emission routes are mapped and quantities of emission are 
measured. Together, alternative strategies for good and best practices are constructed.  
We use lysimeters in the commercial greenhouses of the early adopting growers, 
not only for measuring emission, but also to start a dialogue with growers. Lysimeters are 
widely used in scientific projects, but there are no ready-made concepts available to 
measure the emissions in commercial production companies. Our lysimeters are adapted 
for use in modern commercial greenhouses (Voogt et al., 2006) to monitor nutrient 
emissions in soil grown crops. In the course of our first experiments in commercial 
greenhouses, several technical bottlenecks appeared. The lysimeter conflicted with the 
practical soil tillage. We are now focusing on the solving of these practical problems. 
Simultaneously, a fundamental study of the behaviour of N and P in the soil is carried out 
to improve the robustness of the lysimeter. The effects of soil type, hydrology, 
mineralisation, denitrification and the relation with existing fertigation models are taken 
into account (Heinen, 2006).  
 
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS 
The scheme with two transition pathways from Wijnands and Vogelezang (2009) 
and its practical elaboration (Vogelezang and Wijnands, 2009) proved to be helpful in the 
understanding of the current energy transition and the planning of the new emission 
transition. Some elements of Figure 1 are discernible in the integrated research project on 
emission. Our efforts concentrate on the first four actions as mentioned by Vogelezang 
and Wijnands (2009) in this stage of the transition process. Of course there are clear 
differences between the two transitions. The energy transition has been going on for some 
years and has produced great enthusiasm among stakeholders, a massive body of 
knowledge and a considerable reduction of fossil fuel use, whereas the new emission 
transition has just started. Also, a possible reduction of fossil fuel use could be of direct 
economical advantage for growers, whereas a possible reduction of nutrient emission 
provides only slight direct economic advantage against increased risks due to changes in 
the production strategy. Nevertheless, our combined approach towards emission 
innovation projects, an innovation agenda and regional networks has started. Based on 
our knowledge and experience, we present a realistic approach for a transition that could 
meet the demands of modern European society. We are learning by doing, but also 
believe that this approach might offer opportunities in a European context as well. 
 56 
Researchers interested in cooperation in this field are invited to contact us.   
 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
This research was funded by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture. We thank Eric 
Poot (Wageningen UR Greenhouse Horticulture) for reading the manuscript. 
 
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stikstof. Het Waterschap 81(9):304-311.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figures 
 
 
 
 
  
Fig. 1. Two transition pathways showing the innovation process. Modified from 
Wijnands and Vogelezang (2009). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Innovation 
agenda 
Stakeholders 
Practice 
Future  
Innovation   
projects 
Early 
adopters  
Practice 
Future 
Design 
Analysis 
 58 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Complying with society's demands - solving the emission problem caused by irrigation surplus in greenhouses

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Complying with society's demands - solving the emission problem caused by irrigation surplus in greenhouses

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