Subcommittee meeting and plenary session conclude 3rd round of agricultural policy dialogue with Japan
On Tuesday 29 November and Wednesday 30 November, the 3rd subcommittee meeting and the plenary session of the 3rd Japan-Netherlands dialogue on agricultural cooperation were held online.
The topic of the 3rd subcommittee meeting was zero emissions in greenhouses. Research institutes, greenhouse builders and producers (growers) from both countries gave presentations about their efforts towards achieving zero emissions, which involved various technologies for energy saving but also for using alternative energy sources.
The plenary session was attended by Mr. Jan-Kees GOET, Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of the Netherlands, and Mr. YASURAOKA Takeshi, Deputy Director General, Export and International Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan, among other participants from the two ministries. The session reviewed the three subcommittee meetings, amongst other initiatives, executed jointly by the two ministries during the period of the 3rd dialogue and discussed potential topics for the upcoming 4th round of the dialogue.
The subcommittee meeting on zero emissions in greenhouses consisted of six presentations. From the Dutch side Frank Kempkes, researcher Energy and Climate at the business unit greenhouse horticulture of WUR, presented the efforts thus far to create fossil fuel free greenhouses in the Netherlands, and the lessons that were learnt along the way. Rob Baan, CEO of Koppert Cress, talked about his experiences with Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage System (ATES). In his presentation Baan made a passionate appeal for valuing the greenhouse as energy source, underlining that the sun is for free. Angela Luijten-Barendregt, Project Manager International Business and Strategy at Hoogendoorn Growth Management, shared her expertise on how efficient management of CO2 levels in greenhouses contributes to reducing the need for energy while at the same time optimizing plant growth. From the Japanese side Dr. ISHII Masahisa, deputy leader at the Institute for Rural Engineering of NARO, explained how local production and consumption of renewable energy in rural areas may be profitably linked up in a local energy network, benefitting agricultural production including greenhouses, and rural life, while also touching upon the various technologies available to village energy management system (VEMS) and realize net-zero energy greenhouses (ZEG). Mr. MATSUTANI Kazuki of ZEN-NOH Green Resources Corporation, talked about ZEN-NOH’s greenhouse project ‘Dream Farm’ and its achievements on emission reduction. Mr. ODE Hironobu, CEO of SEIWA, shared his view on and examples of the main routes towards zero emission greenhouses, being energy saving technologies, developing alternative energy sources and absorption of CO2 generated in other industries.
These presentations and discussion that followed proved to be useful in enhancing mutual understanding of the current efforts in the two countries and provided insights into potential for collaboration on this topic in the future, such as new projects on heat storage technologies or high-efficiency heat pump systems.
At the plenary session, Mr. Jan-Kees GOET, Secretary General at the Netherlands Ministry of Agriculture, Nature, and Food Quality, noted that the dialogue has developed into a useful platform to discuss common challenges and exchange ideas on how to meet them and suggested that the two countries continue to work together to expand that common ground. This positive impression was shared by Mr. YASURAOKA Takeshi, Deputy Director General , Export and International Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries who was also present at the plenary session.
As regards the potential topics for the next round of the dialogue, biomass (manure and food waste), reduction of greenhouse gasses in livestock production, resilient crops, alternative proteins, and automation for greenhouse horticulture were suggested. Both parties agreed to discuss these ideas further at the working level before finalizing the topics for the next dialogue.
