The Dairy Campus in

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

is a test farm and centre for

scientific research The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century (with notable practitioners in previous centuries; see the article history of scientific m ...

and practical training''Over Ons'', website of the Dairy Campus
/ref>, ''Op Dairy Campus leveren koeien vooral data'', Reformatorisch Dagblad, 26 May 2016
/ref>, ''Nieuwe Encyclopedie van Fryslân'', Gorredijk/Leeuwarden (Utgeverij Bornmeer/Tresoar), 2016, , pp. 2173-2174. in the field of

dairy farming Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or ...

, located, the capital of the province of

Friesland Friesland (, ; official fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of ...

. The decision to launch this centre was made in 2011,''Onze Geschiedenis'', website of the Dairy Campus
/ref> and it was opened in 2016.——, ''Steatssekretaris Van Dam iepenet nij sintrum Dairy Campus'', Omrop Fryslân, 19 May 2016
/ref>——, ''Steatssekretaris Van Dam iepenet Dairy Campus yn Ljouwert'', Omrop Fryslân, 26 May 2016
/ref>——, ''Koeien kijken: Dairy Campus in Leeuwarden'', eDepot, Wageningen University & Research, 2014
/ref> The Campus traces its roots to the test farm Bosma Zathe, founded in Ureterp in 1944; its building complex was formerly called Nij Bosma Zathe (''nij'' means "new" in the

West Frisian language West Frisian, or simply Frisian ( fy, link=no, Frysk or ; nl, Fries , also ), is a West Germanic language spoken mostly in the province of Friesland () in the north of the Netherlands, mostly by those of Frisian ancestry. It is the most wid ...

). Today, the Dairy Campus is part of

Wageningen University & Research Wageningen University & Research (also known as Wageningen UR; abbreviation: WUR) is a public university in Wageningen, Netherlands, specializing in life sciences with a focus on agriculture, technical and engineering subjects. It is a globally ...

(WUR). All activities in the centre are focused on the development of

sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

methods for the production and processing of

dairy product Dairy products or milk products, also known as lacticinia, are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, nanny goat, and ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food items in th ...

History

In May 1944, the ''Centraal Instituut voor Landbouwkundig Onderzoek'' ("Central Institute for Agricultural Research", CILO), based in

Wageningen Wageningen () is a municipality and a historic city in the central Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. It is famous for Wageningen University, which specialises in life sciences. The municipality had a population of in , of which many t ...

, leased the

dairy farm Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a history th ...

Bosma Zathe in the Frisian village of Ureterp for

agronomic Agricultural economics is an applied field of economics concerned with the application of economic theory in optimizing the production and distribution of food and fiber products. Agricultural economics began as a branch of economics that spe ...

research. In 1956 this test farm was taken over by the (Frisian provincial) ''Christelijke Boeren en Tuinders Bond'' ("Christian Farmers' and Horticulturalists' Association", CBTB), which ran it for the following sixteen years. During a reorganisation in 1972, Bosma Zathe was transformed into a regional research centre (ROC). As such it became, from 1974 onwards, a collaboriation between the CBTB, the ''Friese Maatschappij van Landbouw'' ("Frisian Society of Agriculture") and

interest group Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the developm ...

s of

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...

s and

horticulturalist Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

s from the neighbouring Province of Groningen. Through a

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

in 1995, the test farm became part of a national ''Stichting Praktijkonderzoek Rundvee, Schapen en Paarden'' ("Foundation for Practical Research into Husbandry of Cattle, Sheep and Horses"). From that point, the research which took place there was coordinated from

Lelystad Lelystad () is a municipality and a city in the centre of the Netherlands, and it is the capital of the province of Flevoland. The city, built on reclaimed land, was founded in 1967 and was named after Cornelis Lely, who engineered the Afsluitdi ...

, in the central Dutch province of

Flevoland Flevoland () is the twelfth and youngest province of the Netherlands, established in 1986, when the southern and eastern Flevopolders, together with the Noordoostpolder, were merged into one provincial entity. It is in the centre of the countr ...

In 2000, the test farm Bosma Zathe was moved from Ureterp to the

Boksum Boksum is a village in Waadhoeke municipality in the province of Friesland, the Netherlands. It had a population of around 400 people in 2020 Before 2018, the village was part of the Menameradiel municipality. Overview The village was first ment ...

erpolder,——, ''Nij Bosma Zathe offisjeel iepene'', Omrop Fryslân, 7 December 2000
/ref> near the Frisian capital of

Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; fy, Ljouwert, longname=yes /; Town Frisian: ''Liwwadden''; Leeuwarder dialect: ''Leewarden'') is a city and municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 123,107 (2019). It is the provincial capital and seat of the ...

, where it took the name of Nij Bosma Zathe (''nij'' means "new" in the

). The building complex in that location was newly built in 1999. Nij Bosma Zathe was officially opened by the Queen's Commissioner in the Province of Friesland

Ed Nijpels Eduardus Hermannus Theresia Maria Nijpels (born 1 April 1950) is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and nonprofit director. Nijpels studied Civil law at the Utrecht University obtaining a Master of Studie ...

on 6 December 2000. The entire moving operation cost in excess of 17 million

Dutch guilder The guilder ( nl, gulden, ) or florin was the currency of the Netherlands from the 15th century until 2002, when it was replaced by the euro. The Dutch name ''gulden'' was a Middle Dutch adjective meaning "golden", and reflects the fact that, wh ...

s. Afterwards, Nij Bosma Zatha, together with the other five Dutch regional research centres in the field of

(Cranendonck, De Vlierd, Zegveld, Aver Heino and Waiboerhoeve), became part of

(WUR). Nij Bosma Zathe's function was that of centre for practical research for the dairy farming area of the northern Netherlands region ( nl). In 2001 the test farm was grouped with the ''Praktijkonderzoek Veehouderij'' ("Practical Research Animal Husbandry"), an independently operating part of WUR. At that time Nij Bosma Zathe was made up of two residential dwellings, a (traditional)

barn A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes. In North America, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain.Allen G. ...

, a

dairy barn Dairy Barn was a chain of regional Convenience store, convenience stores located on Long Island, New York (state), New York, with headquarters in Elwood, New York. The stores were distinguished by their drive-through feature, red barn appearance, ...

with room for 184 cows, a barn for young cattle with facilities for calving, and a shed for

agricultural machinery Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the countless kinds of farm implements that the ...

. Because of the discontinuance of the ''Landbouwschap'', an organisation which had imposed a collective tax on Dutch farmers from which practical research was paid, budget cuts to the test farms became inevitable. In 2008-2009 all parties involved came to the agreement that the test farms for dairy farming would by brought together in one location.——, ''Nij Bosma Zathe kennissintrum'', Omrop Fryslân, 3 December 2009
/ref>
/ref>
/ref> The intention was to establish a single national knowledge centre for

innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entity ...

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

and practical learning in the field of dairy farming and the production and processing of

s, named 'Dairy Campus'. Leeuwarden was named as the location of the newly centralised test farm, but that plan ran into opposition from the Animal Science Group of Wageningen University,, ''Is vertrek Nij Bosma Zathe nog te keren?'', HalloLeeuwarden.nl, 5 November 2010
/ref> who considered that a concentration of the test farms for dairy farming at Waiboerhoeve, near

, the largest test farm in the Netherlands, was a more central location. Dairy Campus Ljouwert12

In the end the decision that the Dairy Campus would be located at Nij Bosma Zathe was taken in 2011——, ''Opwurdearring Nij Bosma Zathe'', Omrop Fryslân, 24 January 2011
/ref> on the basis that Friesland is pre-eminently a dairy farming province, with a large number of organisations in the sphere of

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

. Behind the scenes the Province of Friesland and the Municipality of Leeuwarden did some hard

lobbying In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agency, regulatory agencie ...

to get the Dairy Campus in Leeuwarden, among other things by promising

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

20 million in

subsidies A subsidy or government incentive is a form of financial aid or support extended to an economic sector (business, or individual) generally with the aim of promoting economic and social policy. Although commonly extended from the government, the ter ...

,——, ''"Dairy Campus fan grut belang"'', Omrop Fryslân, 3 February 2011
/ref> a third of that for establishing the

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

and the rest for the

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...

and scientific research. Of that €20 million, €2.5 million came from the provincial government, another €2.5 million from the municipal government, and the remaining €15 million from the Frisian part of the ''Samenwerkingsverband Noord-Nederland'' ("Northern Netherlands Regional Cooperation", SNN). At the end of the summer of 2014, the expansion of Nij Bosma Zathe was supposed to begin with the construction of four new dairy barns and a new reception facility.——, ''Nije stâlen by Dairy Campus'', Omrop Fryslân, 28 April 2014
/ref> However, the plans were delayed because of new budget cuts.——, ''Utwreiding Dairy Campus Ljouwert krijt foarm'', Omrop Fryslân, 22 December 2015
/ref> In the end it was not until February 2015 before the expansion could begin. Overall it would cost €9 million. It had been intended that Nij Bosma Zathe would be the only Dutch test farm for dairy farming from 2015 on, but in the event the Dairy Campus was divided between two locations until the beginning of 2016, namely Nij Bosma Zathe and Waiboerhoeve, near

. Only after the construction work at Nij Bosma Zathe was completed, were all activities centralised in Leeuwarden. The Dairy Campus was formally opened by State Secretary for

Economic Affairs An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

Martijn van Dam Martinus Hendricus Petrus "Martijn" van Dam (born 1 February 1978) is a Dutch engineer and politician. A member of the Labour Party (PvdA), he served as State Secretary for Economic Affairs from 3 November 2015 until 1 September 2017 in the Sec ...

, on 26 May 2016. In August 2018

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Mark Rutte Mark Rutte (; born 14 February 1967) is a Dutch politician who has served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 2010 and Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) since 2006. After a business career working for Unilever ...

visited the Dairy Campus., ''Trots overheerst bij bezoek premier rutte aan Dairy Campus en Water Campus'', Friesch Dagblad, 21 August 2018
/ref> From 2016 onwards, over a period of ten years, €40 million were invested in the Dairy Campus, of which €1 million became available for innovation projects on a yearly basis. Half of that money was made up of subsidies by the Province of Friesland and the Municipality of Leeuwarden, while the remaining half was provided by Wageningen University and partners in the private sector. Dairy Campus Ljouwert08

The Dairy Campus today

In 2019 the Dairy Campus consists of a reception and presentation building,
/ref> conference rooms, training areas, manure facilities, ponds to purify

effluent Effluent is wastewater from sewers or industrial outfalls that flows directly into surface waters either untreated or after being treated at a facility. The term has slightly different meanings in certain contexts, and may contain various pollut ...

rotary milking parlor The Rotolactor is the first invention for milking a large number of cows successively and largely automatically, using a rotating platform. It was developed by the Borden Company in 1930, and is known today in the dairy industry as the "rotary mil ...

, and six

s, each with its own function, such as raising young cattle, the processing of manure, and research into the accumulation of

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous was ...

life expectancy Life expectancy is a statistical measure of the average time an organism is expected to live, based on the year of its birth, current age, and other demographic factors like sex. The most commonly used measure is life expectancy at birth ...

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and other ...

systems, and feedstuffs and efficient feeding. The test farm has 18 permanent

employee Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any other ...

s (more than half in farming positions and the remainder in the office) and 550

milch cow Dairy cattle (also called dairy cows) are cattle bred for the ability to produce large quantities of milk, from which dairy products are made. Dairy cattle generally are of the species ''Bos taurus''. Historically, little distinction was mad ...

s (not counting a couple of hundreds heads of young cattle). Furthermore, it also includes 300

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

s of

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine ...

. More than thirty research and innovation projects are being conducted at any time. Apart from its status as a knowledge and research centre, the Dairy Campus is also an

enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterpris ...

, which has to pay for itself. Half of all proceeds comes from supplying milk to

FrieslandCampina Royal FrieslandCampina N.V. is a Dutch multinational dairy cooperative which is based in Amersfoort, Netherlands. It is the result of a merger between Friesland Foods and Campina on 30 December 2008. The European Commission approved this merger ...

, and the other half is derived from sponsoring of

. Installment of a new gas installation, in December 2018, made the

biogas Biogas is a mixture of gases, primarily consisting of methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste and food waste. It is a ...

from the biofermenter, which had been placed in the Dairy Campus by Biogas B.V., suitable to supply to the public gas net. Dairy Campus Ljouwert11

Activities

The Dairy Campus is the (only remaining) centre for

and practical training in the field of

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. The test farm is used to gather

data In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted ...

which can be employed to invent new, innovative ways of running a farm and processing dairy products. As a subdivision of Wageningen University, the Dairy Campus focuses on achieving and promoting close cooperation between the

scientific community The scientific community is a diverse network of interacting scientists. It includes many " sub-communities" working on particular scientific fields, and within particular institutions; interdisciplinary and cross-institutional activities are als ...

and the

agricultural sector The primary sector of the economy includes any industry involved in the extraction and production of raw materials, such as farming, logging, fishing, forestry and mining. The primary sector tends to make up a larger portion of the economy in de ...

Student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementar ...

s from ''middelbaar beroepsonderwijs'' (job-oriented

secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final pha ...

), ''hoger beroepsonderwijs'' (job-oriented

higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...

) as well as

universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

can perform the practical stages of their education at the Dairy Campus or take classes in practical training there. It is also possible for them to get busy exploring scientists' ideas in provisional research projects. And companies can pay to have their products tested in the suitable environment of the Dairy Campus. The test farm sees itself as a(n) "(inter)nationally leading centre where research, innovation, education, practical training and the dissemination of knowledge of the entire dairy production and processing chain are brought together." The intention of the institute is to raise dairy farming to a higher level vis-à-vis economic profitability,

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

al concerns,

animal welfare Animal welfare is the well-being of non-human animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevity ...

and social acceptance. The Dairy Campus wants to become the most important centre for innovation in the Netherlands, thereby evolving into "the

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo County ...

of and for the entire dairy farming sector." All activities in the centre are focused on the development of

durable Durability is the ability of a physical product to remain functional, without requiring excessive maintenance or repair, when faced with the challenges of normal operation over its design lifetime. There are several measures of durability in use, ...

methods for the production and processing of

Cooperation

The Dairy Campus is cooperating closely with a large number of companies, research centres, educational institutes, government agencies and interest groups.''Partners'', website of the Dairy Campus
/ref> Among those are of course other subdivisions of Wageningen University, but also Nordwin College ( nl),

Van Hall Larenstein University Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences (abbreviated as: ''VHL''; nl, Hogeschool Van Hall Larenstein) is a vocational university in the Netherlands. It has locations in Leeuwarden and Velp (near Arnhem). History Since January 2003 ...

, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, campus Friesland, LTO Nederland ( nl),

, the Municipality of Leeuwarden, the Province of Friesland and several educational institutes abroad. In 2013 practical training centre PTC+ in Oentsjerk joined the Dairy Campus under its new name Dairy Training Centre (DTC), after an earlier attempt at collaboration fell through at the start of 2011.——, ''Oentsjerk net by Dairy Campus'', Omrop Fryslân, 26 January 2011.
/ref> Until it went

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debt ...

in December 2017, the DTC provided training for domestic and foreign groups at the Dairy Campus, concerning dairy farming and milk processing. This training program included contributions from agricultural

employment agency An employment agency is an organization which matches employers to employees. In developed countries, there are multiple private businesses which act as employment agencies and a publicly-funded employment agency. Public employment agencies One ...

AB Vakwerk as well as

consultancy A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...

bureau The Friesian.

Gallery

File:Dairy Campus Ljouwert04.jpg, The dairy barn where scientific research is conducted into accumulation of

. File:Dairy Campus Ljouwert07.jpg, A view behind the canvas covering a part of the barn to keep the ammonia in. File:Dairy Campus Ljouwert05.jpg, An automatic milking system milking a cow. File:Dairy Campus Ljouwert06.jpg, An automatic milking system milking a cow. File:Dairy Campus Ljouwert03.jpg, View of the dairy barns from the back of the reception area. File:Dairy Campus Ljouwert09.jpg, A class room for practical training. File:Dairy Campus Ljouwert10.jpg, A pond where the

from the office building is purified. File:Dairy Campus Ljouwert13.jpg, Where cows cross over from one dairy barn to the next to get milked. File:Dairy Campus Ljouwert14.jpg, A barn where the cows are kept when they are in calf. File:Dairy Campus Ljouwert15.jpg, Cows being milked in the

External links

Official website of the Dairy Campus

References

{{reflist Agricultural organisations based in the Netherlands Education in Leeuwarden Wageningen University and Research Organizations established in 2011