Peter Smeets gave a presentation on metropolitan food clusters and agroparks. He discussed how food production is clustering around urban areas to improve resource efficiency. A metropolitan food cluster aims to optimize resource use, market connectivity, and social/spatial integration. Key innovations include integrated hardware/software design, efficient logistics and resource sharing through industrial ecology. Examples were given of integrated farms, food parks, and clusters in the Netherlands and Singapore that apply these circular economy principles.

1. Titel presentatie
[Naam, organisatienaam]
Working Day - Track: Food clusters
Applying the circular economy
Peter J.A.M. Smeets
Metropolitan Food Clusters
and Agroparks

2. Metropolitan Food Clusters and Agroparks
Nov. 8 2016, Peter J.A.M. Smeets

3. NORTH AMERICA
S/D 5.3
SOUTH&MIDDLE AMERICA
S/D 8.4
EX-USSR
S/D 3.0
EAST ASIA
S/D 0.6
SOUTH ASIA
S/D 0.4
WEST ASIA
S/D 0.5
REST OF EUROPE
S/D 1.0
SOUTH EUROPE
S/D 0.7
NORTH AFRICA
S/D 0.9
SOUTHEAST ASIA
S/D 0.8REST OF AFRICA
S/D 3.3
OCEANIA
S/D 28.0
Ratio of potential supply and demand (S/D)
in 2040 with expected 9.5 bln inhabitants
on current European diet
Image elaborated by ir. Steef Buijs,
Based on WRR report ‘Duurzame risico’s, een
Blijvend gegeven’ (1994)
Global food system: Enough to eat

4. OXFAM: Netherlands has world’s best food

5. The Northwest European Delta Metropolis, with 35
mln people, is the basis for its strong position in
agri&food:
LONDON
PARIS
LILLE
BRUSSELLS
RUHR
AREA
AMSTER
DAM
spatial pressure
open economy
water
infrastructure
non protected
agriculture

6. In recent decades most innovative agri-food has
followed the industrial development of clustering:
A Metropolitan Food Cluster (MFC) is
an innovative network of agrifood producers,
processors and service providers which is focused
on the urban areas.
It aims to optimize resource use efficiency,
market connectivity and embeddedness in the
wider social, spatial and institutional frameworks.

7. The MFC spatial scheme is
inspired on the Eindhoven
region that is the Netherlands
nr 1 agri-food region:
• 90.000 agri food related
jobs
• 17.000 enterprises
• Nr. 1 in livestock, 2 in
horticulture

8. AP
AP
AP
rpc
rpc
rpc
rpc
rpc
rpc
rpc
Metropolitan Core
CC
CC
CC
ec
A metropolitan food cluster typically
rises around a metropolitan core

9. Consolidation Centre: Fresh Park Venlo
 Storage, distribution,
processing, trade and
services,
 Main clients: 7 mln
consumers in German Ruhr
Area
 In a consumer responsive
way throughout the whole
year
 Seasonal products not
available from local
producers are being supplied
from storage or by world
wide trade

10. Freshpark Venlo: Auction, processing and
trade
Barge terminal Vegetable auction
Redistribution, big to small flows Distribution area for flower auction

11. Wijnen bv, Capsicum grower in 50 ha hightech
greenhouse in Agropark California near Venlo
Recycling of harvested rainwater Storage of heat
Capsicum plants
Semi-mechanized sorting, packing and
quality control
Export to Japan

12. Rural processing Centre: Vreba Melkvee
1500 dairy cows
Producing 16.5
mln kg milk/yr
1400 ha land
40% of fodder
imported

13. 5 key innovation principles of
Metropolitan Food Clusters
1. Integrated design of hardware, orgware and
software
2. Resource use efficiency
3. Agrologistics
4. Vertical integration
5. Horizontal integration

14. Key innovation 5: Parallel development of
hardware, orgware and software

15. Key innovation 4: Intelligent agrologistics
 Agrologistics, from the farm gate until the supermarket,
is key in delivering a high quality product
 Agrologistics is the key to economic performance in
the agrosector
 The logistic network may also be used as a source of
market information regarding demanded products in
the encounter of buyers
and producers

16. An MFC is a system innovation
Law of the minimum
factor:
The overall result is as
good as the weakest link
Law of integrated system
development
Improvements have a better end result
if other factors are also improved

17. Resource use efficiency: land- and water use
in closed-system greenhouse production

18. Key innovation 2: Vertical integration
 Integration reduces transport and veterinary risks
 Better meat quality because of stress reduction
 Reduction of contamination and prevention of loss of taste
 Added value stays within primary production
 Large scale and industrial mode of production enables radical environmental
technology:
● Smell reduction
● Ammonia emission reduction
● Fine dust reduction
Mother animals
Genetics
Egg production
Breeding
Broilers
Slaughtering
Processing
Short
chain
broiler
production
manure
CO2
Energy
Retail
Feed

19. New Mixed farm: Closed Broiler farm and Bio Energy Cluster
Porch stable with
parent animals
Patio stables with
broilers
Slaughterhous
e
Bio Energy Cluster

20. Key innovation 3: Horizontal integration
 Integration of animal and vegetable production and
processinghains enables industrial ecology through the
exchange of rest- and by products
● Decrease of waste & omissions
● Additional profit from rest- and by-products
 Commercially viable exchange requires physical
proximity: agroparks arrange such space
 Innovations are expensive  require large scale for
profitable implementation
 Technologies secure sustainable large-scale production
of the future: water efficiency, climate mitigation &
adaptation

21. Industrial ecology in agroclusters:
Basic structure of an ecosystem
21
Plant
production
(autotrophs)
Animal
production
(heterotrophs)
Decomposers
(sapotrophs)
Energy Feed
WasteRaw
Materials

22. Laarakker: Thermophyllic co-digestation
 Pre treatment of waste
 Premixing
 Thermophyllic co-
digestation
 Aerobic cleaning of waste
water
 Anaerobic cleaning of
wastewater
 Biogas storage
 Storage of digestate
 Processed water storage
 Power generator
 Co-digestation at 55°C, very efficient
 Processing 120.000 ton organic waste/yr,
producing 4.5 MW power
 Co-digester is core of industrial ecology in
agropark

23. Micro algae raffinage
Water treatment
Production of raw
materials
– Proteins for food/feed
– Oils for biodiesel
– Omega 3 fatty acids

24. Chew’s egg farm as incubator for Metropolitan
Food Cluster development in Singapore
 Singapore government wants to reduce it’s dependency
on imported food, at current more than 95% of all
consumed food.
 First phase focus is on vegetables, fish and eggs
 Wageningen is proposing high-tech impulse in existing
aqua, egg and greenhouse production, as well as spatial
integration in agroparks.
24

25. Example: Integrated poultry chain with
insects
Genetics
Breeding
Hatchery
BroilersFeed
Insects
Processing
Insects
Waste
Meat
products
Manure
Feed
components
Human food chain
rest- and by products

26. Preliminary design for new farm
26

27. The principle, extracting high-value from
low-value
TRANSFORM SEPARATE EXTRACT
FLY EGGS
Feedstock
Proteins
Lipids
Fertilizers
Larvae
<2,5% larvae for new flies

28. Industrial ecology in Chew’s new farm
28

29. Industrial example: Nijssen Granico
produces high quality pig food from rest
and by products of human food chain
29

30. Agropark Suikerunie: advanced integration
15 November 2016
30
Greenhouses
Digester
Sugar Factory
Water Sanitation
Land
dependent
agriculture
Co-digester
Melasse storage
30 ha eggplant greenhouse

31. Merging between agro-industry and greenhouses:
Foodcluster Biopark Terneuzen
 Agropark in sea harbour
 Primary agricultural production through industrial
ecology connected to agro-industry
 Focus on sustainable development of bio-energy
production
 In operation
 http://www.bioparkterneuzen.com/cms/publish/con
tent/downloaddocument.asp?document_id=420
Yara
fertiliser
production
200 ha
Greenhouses
Nedalco
bio-
ethanol
Heros
wastewater
cleaning
BiomassaUnie
co-digester
Roosendaal
Energy
Biodiesel
Proces&wastewater
Proces & wastewater
heat
CO2
CO2
Biomasswaste
Substrate
Power

32. 3232
Emerging from Greenhouse Cluster:
Foodcluster Agriport A7
• http://www.agriporta7.nl/
• Centre for growing vegetables,
agribusiness industry and logistics, 30
minutes from Amsterdam
• Primary production:
– Large scale glasshouses : 300 ha
growing to 1.000 ha
– Field crops : 40.000 ha
• Vegetables industry, logistics and services
– Business park: 70 ha
• To be added
– closed fish production and processing
– ICT-server centre

33. 33
Area Agriport A7 august 2008
Warehouses and
logistics
Greenhouses
and power
generation

34. Agriport A7: residual heat of datacenter for
greenhouses
Microsoft Data Center

35. Thank You
35
Dr P.J.A.M. Smeets
Agroparks and Metropolitan
Foodclusters
Email: peter.smeets@wur.nl
Mob.: +31651206758
Tel: +31 317 481675
www.wageningenur.nl
www.metropolitanfoodclusters.wur.nl