‘Thrilling’: Dutch cattle farmers switch to rice as solution to warmer climate and sinking peatlands

Dutch cattle farming dries out peatland and releases CO2. Is switching to Japanese rice-growing a solution? The warming climate is allowing Dutch farmers to grow a grain never before harvested in the Netherlands: rice. For centuries, cows were the country's agricultural staple. But now farmers are experimenting with produce previously unthinkable in such a wet, temperate country. And researchers behind the scheme hope rice cultivation could help address one of the country's most pressing environmental challenges: peat soils that are sinking as they dry out, pushing parts of the low-lying Netherlands ever lower. "It's extraordinary," says Philippe Terheggen, chairman of the Land van Ons association that has provided the fields for the rice harvest. "We would never have thought maybe 20 years ago that we would be able to grow rice in the Netherlands," says the 68-year-old. "But it's also scary because it tells you what is possible... now the climate has changed," he says. For now, the project is a pilot scheme, consisting of just 0.6 hectares, with organisers hoping to produce around three tonnes of short-grain rice suitable for sushi or risotto. The team is working with around 30 different rice cultivars from as far afield as Russia, China, Japan and Uzbekistan, to see which grows best in the Dutch climate. 'I just want to show that things can be changed for the benefit of the future' In a soggy field between Amsterdam and The Hague, farmer Sander Roeleveld ploughs his rice crops with a combine harvester, backdropped by windmills and canals. Roeleveld, who describes himself as a "pioneer", says he wants to show other farmers that rice could grow in boggy Dutch soil. "My goal is to show that more things are possible on wetland than just grass," the 53-year-old says. "Of course, when you have had cows for 600 years, it's really hard to imagine that you want to do something else than having milk from your cow," he laughs. "I just want to show that things can be changed for the benefit of the future." How rice farming could cure dried out peatlands But the project is about much more than crop diversification. Researchers believe it could help tackle one of the Netherlands' most persistent environmental problems. Roughly one-tenth of the country is peatland, which farmers drain for grass to feed their cattle. As the peat dries out, it releases millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide while causing the land to subside by up to several centimetres a year in the worst-affected areas. According to Wageningen University, greenhouse gas emissions from Dutch peat soils account for around two to three per cent of the country's total emissions. The only way to resolve this vicious cycle is to keep the fields wet – but then farmers would have nothing to grow there... until now. "Basically it started with just a crazy idea," explains Julian Helfenstein, a researcher from Wageningen University and Research, who is piloting the project along with colleagues from nearby Leiden University. It is a rare combination of both adapting to climate change and mitigating its effects, says the 36-year-old. "Rice is an opportunity for this part of the world to adapt to climate change, so to grow something that previously wasn't possible," he says. "But also to mitigate climate change because it stops this peat from degrading and emitting all the CO2 because you can keep it wet." The peat issue affects not just the Netherlands, but much of northern Europe, including Germany, Belgium, even the Baltic states, he says. Helfenstein and his team are closely monitoring the CO2 and methane emissions from cultivating rice compared to maintaining grassland – to ensure the cure is not worse than the illness. "So far the results are promising," he says. "As an environmental scientist, you're always pointing to the problems. And it can be a bit depressing, like, 'Oh, here's more climate change, here's more pollution'," says Helfenstein. "And then here's an opportunity for science to work also towards a solution. So I find that thrilling." 'Chewy, but great': Dutch rice could be used to make sushi and sake Local restaurants have already voiced an interest in offering premium Dutch-sourced rice, says Guusje van der Vossen from the Wij Land association which helps farmers transition to more sustainable production. She says the rice being harvested now was a grain from northern Japan, which seems the best adapted to Dutch conditions. The 27-year-old is one of the few people ever to have eaten Dutch-grown rice – from an experimental batch grown last year. "It tasted delicious, to be honest," she laughs, saying the aim was to make sushi with it – and maybe sake. "It was a bit chewy, but also great."