Soya farmers, so good: How Dutch growers are taking on a South American super-crop

When it comes to high-yielding soya production, the Netherlands probably isn’t the first country that springs to mind.

But a group of innovative Dutch growers are proving that farmers in northwestern Europe have the soils, climate and skills to produce soya crops to even rival those grown in South America.

Jolande Raaijmakers and her husband Ad are members of a 90-strong cooperative of farmers across the Netherlands who between them planted 475ha of soya beans last year.

Jolande Raaijmakers and her husband Ad are part of a farming cooperative who think they can make soya a profitable crop in the Netherlands.

Having traditionally focused on growing lilies, wheat, barley, maize and alfafa on their 100ha in Best, southern Netherlands, the Raaijmakers first decided to experiment with soya in 2017.

“We’ve always been interested in soil fertility and the health of our land, so we’ve focused on crop rotation and ways to improve organic matter in our soils,” says Jolanda.

“Soy was first grown in the Netherlands six years ago and we heard people were having success with it, so we thought we would give it a try in the rotation and it performed well.”

In 2017 the couple planted 10ha of the crop — 3.5ha of which are organic — choosing varieties from the five selected by their grower cooperative, Royal Agrifirm, which can cope…