The Dutch farmer’s most important function in this multi-billion dollar business appears to be facilitating the revenue model for the ocean. We may not have the financial profit, but society’s criticism of the mode of production is.
Take a lot of risk to create money and employment for others. It’s actually crazy. Farms have been pushed into the business model in the fringes (aided by strict laws and regulations, among other things).
There is still enough margin for distribution within the agricultural sector. In America you see closed pig farms over a number of years with a spread margin of -15$ per pig to break even while slaughterhouses make profits of $40-50 per pig. Reportedly, the relationship in the Netherlands between pig farms and a slaughterhouse is several times farther apart. You offer this margin distribution to you on an individual level through entrepreneurship and negotiation, and you do so primarily through freedom of choice. Margin rests with suppliers and customers.
The partners always keep the total production. Whenever I hear an explanation or motivation for a growth strategy always knowing that someone else in particular is benefiting from it and the farmer is not benefiting from it, I often think; Will the real farmer stand up please?
Google: Who benefits more than 12 million pigs
