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6
DELTARES, FEBRUARY 2016
‘EVEN THE
NETHERLANDS STILL
HAS NO CENTRAL
DELTA AUTHORITY’
Agricultural engineers and water technicians: it's not
always an easy relationship. Professor Louise Fresco, the
President of the Executive Board of Wageningen University,
has seen this for herself. ‘But: we need each other and we
can achieve a lot together.’
BY PJOTR VAN LENTEREN / PHOTOS SAM RENTMEESTER
F
ood safety and flood risk management are two
priorities that are becoming increasingly related.
So one of the first things that Professor Louise
Fresco did when she became President of
Wageningen University was to establish a group
that brought agriculture and water experts together.
The views of an agricultural engineer, director and writer who
likes to look beyond the established boundaries between
disciplines.
Food and water: logical, right?
‘You would think so. But there was hardly any collaboration,
even though all these people work for the same university in
an area of one square kilometre. Fortunately, the ecological
approach to thinking about the challenges of our time
is gaining the upper hand. Engineers, physiologists and
biologists are, of course, increasingly involved with one
another.’
What do water and agricultural engineers
overlook in each other's fields?
‘It is possible to combine food production, nature, safety
and the economy in deltas. The growth of mangrove forests
matches rising sea levels and they are breeding grounds for
fish. Dikes built in particular ways can be used for mussel
cultivation. But that's just the beginning. We have to learn
to speak each other's language. For agricultural engineers,
water engineers are people who create di¨culties: they want
to submerge precious land or use it for infrastructure. And
the opposite is also true because farming is a sector that
is highly unpredictable. Water simply moves to the lowest
point: farmers have to deal with weather, pests, expected and
unexpected interactions between plants, people and animals.
Such a lot can go wrong, and then you lose your harvest, and
your income.’
To what extent can agriculture contribute to
flood risk management?
‘Agriculture isn't just part of the problem; it's also part
of the solution. Farmers and biologists are good at the
sophisticated management of complex systems. For example,
with the right grasses and proper management, we can make
sure that soil absorbs more CO
2
and contributes to reducing
global warming. The di£erence looks marginal, but don't
forget how many thousands of square metres of grass we
have. There is still a world to be won.'