Erve Mentink produces milk as well as data

Making a dairy farm sustainable requires entrepreneurship. In a series of three episodes, dairy farmers talk about how they have seen the opportunity to turn sustainable farming into a business model. Els Uijterlinde and her husband run a dairy farm in Deurningen, in the province of Overijssel. Their Erve Mentink is not only a sustainable farm, it is also a research company.

Els Uijterlinde, like her husband Gerard, studied at the University in Wageningen. From this background we see that research is very necessary to ensure that there remains a healthy agricultural sector in our country. So about five years ago we decided to actively participate with our company in research aimed at sustainable business operations.'

It then started with a trial of herb-rich grassland. 'Currently we have sown several strips with, among others, corn, beets and field beans,' says Uijterlinde. 'And the University of Wageningen is measuring nitrogen levels both inside and outside the barn.'

Challenges

The trial with herb-rich grassland went well and the dairy farmer is also enthusiastic about the extension of the number of hours of grazing. But there are always challenges. 'You can't spray regularly. So in fact your 'toolbox' gets a lot smaller.'

For example, the entrepreneur has a plot where some sorrel is coming up. 'Then we have to think very deeply about how we're going to tackle that. Because we don't want to go back to the days when you had to put everything out by hand. So we bring in scientists from the university. Or people who develop drones. So we can work in a natural way with modern means.

Uijterlinde is one of the guests on June 7 during the webinar Earning from Sustainability. Registering for this webinar is free.