{"id":5317,"date":"2018-01-16T13:22:52","date_gmt":"2018-01-16T13:22:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/topsectoragrifood.nl\/?page_id=5317"},"modified":"2026-01-06T11:04:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T11:04:04","slug":"over","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/topsectoragrifood.nl\/en\/over\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Top Sector Agri & Food: societal challenges and economic opportunities<\/span><\/h1>[\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][vc_column fade_animation_offset=”45px” width=”1\/3″ id=”overtop” class=”” style=””]
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Societal challenges<\/span><\/h4>

The world is facing enormous challenges. In the next generation, the world population will increase by 2 billion people. Moreover, 800 million people are currently starving or are lacking proper, nutritious food. Thus, this means we have to produce more food than ever before.<\/p>\n

At the same time, various trends call for different kinds of food. Due to a worldwide increasing prosperity, demand for high quality protein such as vegetables, dairy and meat is growing. A growing share of the population is suffering from diet-related health problems (obesity, diabetes) and more and more consumers are consciously choosing for healthier, more sustainable food.<\/p>\n

Although the Dutch agricultural sector has the lowest impact on the environment, climate and biodiversity per kilogram of food worldwide, a further improvement is necessary and is also possible. That is why extra attention needs to be paid to developing climate neutral, sustainable and robust production systems, where circularity and reuse of waste and by-products are also important. Animal welfare is and will remain an important topic, which will remain so.<\/p>\n

Economic opportunities<\/span><\/h4>

These societal challenges offer great economic opportunities, for which the Dutch agricultural sector has important assets. We are an international market leader and have a strong, highly productive and innovative sector with very efficient processing and logistics. We have the best knowledge institutions worldwide and the public-private cooperation between businesses, knowledge institutions and government is in our genes. By joining forces, we can face societal challenges and at the same time strengthen the economic power of the sector. We do this nationally and internationally.<\/p>\n

Dutch agricultural exports, estimate 2016<\/strong>
\nSource: CBS, Wageningen Economic Research<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner inner_container=”true” no_margin=”true” padding_top=”0px” padding_bottom=”0px” bg_color=”#ffffff” bg_video=”” class=”” style=””][vc_column_inner fade_animation_offset=”45px” width=”1\/1″ id=”innovatieagenda” class=”” style=””]

Knowledge and innovation agenda Agri & Food<\/span><\/h4>

The Top Sector Agri & Food has the ambition to be a world leader in successful solutions for global challenges in the fields of agriculture and food. More specifically, our\u00a0Knowledge and Innovation Agenda<\/a> focuses on the following topics:<\/p>\n