Feeding Factory Farms: The History of the Nitrogen Crisis

Studium Generale TU Delft

Soy for feed connects the destruction of the rain forest to the Dutch nitrogen crisis. How did this situation come into being?

TU Delft Library, Orange Room

History of Science

In the History of Science series, Studium Generale will team up with the Academic Heritage Team to connect the past with the present.

The Netherlands is not only a densely populated country in terms of people, but also in terms of chickens, pigs and dairy cows. These inhabitants of ‘factory farms’ have to eat. A lot. Millions of tons of feed are shipped across oceans to make intensive livestock production possible. This creates global and local problems. Animal feed production competes with human food production. Soy for feed connects the destruction of the South American rain forest to the Dutch nitrogen crisis. How did this situation come into being? And why is it so difficult to change? This is the story of feeding factory farms in the Netherlands: a history of unprecedented growth fueled by grains and oilseeds from all over the world. It is also a story of unprecedented environmental trouble.

Dr. Floor Haalboom is environmental and medical historian at Erasmus University Rotterdam. She is currently working on the NWO-funded Veniproject ‘What does your meat eat? The global impact of Dutch livestock feed from 1954 up to the present’.Dr. Henk Jonkers is Professor of Bio-adapted and Sustainable Building Materials at the TU Delft. These are materials that contain, or stimulate growth of, living organisms resulting in increased functional performance and decreased environmental impact.

History of Science seriesIn the History of Science series, Studium Generale will team up with the Academic Heritage Team and Open Spaces to connect the past with the present. In each event, a small panel of historians and experts from the TU Delft will explore the roots of one of today's issues and discuss the role that science, technology, and engineers continue to play in them today.

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Feeding Factory Farms: The History of the Nitrogen Crisis

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Feeding Factory Farms: The History of the Nitrogen Crisis

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