Into the soil

Abstract

In 2021, a group of angry farmers drove their tractors to the ‘Malieveld’ (‘Main square’) in The Hague, to protest the new nitrogen regulations. They felt angry because the politicians were not listening. When reading this news and following the politics around the farmers, a present call for sustainable change within agriculture could be heard. However, the changes which are currently spoken about, such as reduction of nitrogen or the number of dairy cattle, seems to be a black-and-white approach to frame the problem and does not represent a real or focused long-term plan.

Therefore, the aim of this project is to investigate the current system surrounding the dairy cow to find a new perspective on the complexity of the problem, and to create a fitting intervention which should bring about change towards a sustainable agriculture. This project will zoom in on specifically the Frisian dairy agriculture, exploring this context on a systemic level, and investigate using the ‘Transition Design’ method.

To gain insights in the complex system around the Frisian dairy cow, various stakeholders were identified. Some of these stakeholders, such as farmers or experts on nature or soil, were interviewed, while other stakeholders’ perspectives were investigated through in-depth research.

During the project, a new perspective arised. It can be concluded that the whole system surrounding the Frisian dairy cow is one large interwoven network. With at the centre not the dairy cow, but the one stakeholder which is directly connected to the entire system as every stakeholder depends on this: the soil. Without a healthy soil, which supplies raw materials, the entire identified system will not exist. Within our currently built agricultural system the discovered problem is that the soil will be depleted over the coming years and biodiversity will be expelled. Within this current system profits are not fairly distributed. The present system is mainly focused on yielding high profits by the banks, the food industry, and supermarkets.

Based on the research, a desired future vision was created which helped to map out the pathway of transition. To accelerate the transition of the current system of the dairy cow towards the desired future, an intervention was designed. This intervention was focused on helping young professionals to develop a level of self-reflection with which they can link their behaviour towards buying certain dairy products to the invisible exiting consequences of the Dutch soil degradation.

Through a diverse set of testing rounds with different iterated prototypes, the intervention was tested among the target group. This showed that through the designed intervention, a new awareness was created regarding the present state of our food or dairy system. In conclusion, it showed that the intervention increased the level of self-reflection in the habits of consumers towards buying and consuming food with all the connected consequences.


This project however has some limitations, the research had some time constraints and was conducted by only one individual. Therefore, when analysing, concluding and interpreting the data, the outcome, the new vision surrounding the Dutch dairy cow and the designed intervention could be received as subjective. Additionally due to the short time period of the research, not every stakeholder could represent them-self.
If the research was to be reproduced, all the stakeholders of the system should represent themselves, to create an equal and complete view on the current system.
Moreover, if the project was to be reproduced it should be continued by a larger team of diverse (design) researchers to create a more objective data analysis outcome.