Win-win results for
clean water coalition
Picture: CLM, Culemborg
Frederiek van Lienen and Marianne Schuerhoff +
Groundwater quality improves with
ecosystem health. Drinking water company
Brabant Water in the Netherlands therefore
aims for healthy soil and water systems. The
Clean Water project shows that sustainable
utilisation of natural capital can go hand in
hand with economic profit – provided the
necessary steps are taken.
Since many years the Brabant Water Company has
worked together with stakeholders in various
projects to improve groundwater quality in the
province of Noord-Brabant. In their flagship
project 'Clean Water for Brabant' the company
works together with the agricultural sector,
provincial authorities and water management
authorities to prevent groundwater pollution by
crop protection products used by farmers. Other
groundwater projects in which the company is
involved are primarily aimed at improving
ecosystem services, for example by increasing soil
organic matter, enhancing soil-plant interactions
and switching to natural pest management
methods. The ambition of all these projects is to
initiate a transition from 'curative' farming to
'preventative' farming, combining sustainable
utilisation of natural capital with economic
profitability (see Figure 1).
Risk perception is key
Farmers participate in the Clean Water project on a
voluntary basis. In order to make participation
more attractive, the project focuses on
groundwater protection measures that are
economically profitable. In this case, economic
gain is obtained through cost reduction resulting
from decreased use of crop protection products.
Project results of the past few years show that
groundwater quality improves substantially with
this new pest management approach. However,
farmers' willingness to permanently adopt this new
approach depends on how they perceive the risk of
yield loss. Despite positive cropping results with
reduced pesticide inputs over 15 project years, this
risk is still perceived as high. It is therefore
expected that farmers will return to their old habits
and increase their use of pesticides once the
project is completed. The objective of our present
study was to identify win-win opportunities and
mechanisms to minimise economic risks for
farmers and promote long-term integration of
sustainable practices into farm management and
farm business plans.
+
Frederiek van Lienen: researcher at PBL; present position: PhD candidate at Wageningen University and Nyenrode
Business School. Marianne Schuerhoff: researcher at PBL; present position: lecturer at Van Hall Larenstein University of
Applied Sciences.
The study discussed in this paper was conducted as part of the Natural Capital Netherlands programme of PBL Netherlands
Environmental Assessment Agency. For more information, see: http://themasites.pbl.nl/natuurlijk-kapitaalnederland/natural-capital-netherlands. This paper is a translation of Van Lienen and Schuerhoff (2016). ‘Handen ineen voor
schoon water resulteert in win-win’, Tijdschrift Milieu, Mei 2016.
Figure 1. Characteristics of and differences between curative and preventative farming systems
than agricultural land. In addition, the exclusive,
nature-friendly products produced on conservation
land have a higher profit margin.
Opportunities for win-win solutions
Our study shows that there are various
opportunities for combining sustainable use of
natural capital with economic profitability. The first
win-win result is that farmers in the Clean Water
project have achieved a significant reduction in
their use of crop protection products without
negatively affecting their crop yields. This
encouraging result shows that pesticide-based risk
management may be (partly) replaced by natural
pest management methods supported by
agricultural extension and knowledge-sharing.
Additional risk reduction could be provided by a
crop insurance against yield loss. This insurance
could be financed with the savings achieved
through reduced pesticide use. The question is
who would benefit financially and who would be
willing to set up and pay for this insurance.
A third win-win opportunity arises if water
management authorities, provincial authorities
and the Brabant Water Company coordinate their
water programmes, particularly in terms of spatial
planning. For example, in areas where high water
quality is considered essential (e.g. land
surrounding Natura-2000 areas), spatial policy can
be aimed at promoting organic agriculture to
create 'softer transitions' between agricultural land
and nature reserves. This would benefit
agriculture, nature and water quality.
Additional benefits can be gained through
collaboration. The shared sustainability ambitions
of the current project partners and the growing
number of project participants present a range of
opportunities for realising a sustainable economic
network. For example, farmers could team up to
jointly hire agricultural contractors who work
according to Clean Water criteria. Furthermore,
groups of participants can be linked to Clean Water
buyers (e.g. municipalities, retailers), who, based
on their sustainability ambition, are willing to pay
extra for the products or services delivered.
A second win-win opportunity lies in the
collaboration between organic farmers and nature
conservation organisations with land for lease. This
collaboration offers economic benefit to both
parties: nature conservation organisations save on
management costs because farmers manage the
land for them (using environment-friendly
methods), while farmers save on lease costs
because conservation land is generally cheaper
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on collaboration in sustainable networks and
on entrepreneurship.
Social innovation
The Clean Water project provides participating
farmers with the know-how to reduce the use of
crop protection products. However, outside the
project environment, the opportunities for win-win
solutions outlined above will only hold if the social
system changes. This requires social innovation
towards a system of 'shared value' creation, i.e. a
system that encourages new business approaches
and farming methods that create not only
economic, but also ecological and social value]. In
this case, the long-term benefits of improved soil
and groundwater quality – a shared benefit for
farmers, public partners and the water company –
have to be linked to the shorter-term economic
concerns of farmers (income security, investments
and costs, risk perception with regard to crop yield
losses).
Recommendations
The Clean Water project has become an essential
force in the social system for improving
groundwater quality in the province of NoordBrabant. Based on our study, we have the
following recommendations to help secure the
project results in the long-term.
First of all, we recommend to firmly anchor the
project within the current social context by
changing its organisational structure from a
temporary project to a permanent association,
foundation or cooperative, in order to enable
(medium-term to) long-term agreements between
public partners and participating farmers. This
would also provide a permanent basis for
knowledge-sharing with regard to the various
aspects of 'preventative' farming, as well as allow
development of financial instruments such as crop
insurance and low-interest loans. These activities
and instruments can be financed with the
combined cost savings from reduced pesticide use,
avoided water purification costs for the Brabant
Water Company, avoided environmental costs for
the province of Noord-Brabant, and other possible
cost savings for various stakeholders resulting
directly or indirectly from the transition to
'preventative' farming.
Furthermore, it is essential that the costs of the
measures taken to improve groundwater quality in
the long term are weighed against the avoided
costs of, for example, water purification. Such
insights will stimulate stakeholders to collaborate
and to contribute financially. By switching to
'preventative' farming, various costs can be
avoided in future. These avoided costs can be
considered as 'shared value' benefitting not only
sustainable farmers, but also public partners and
the water company. This shared value forms the
foundation to establish 'preventative' farming
systems through hybrid organisations, including
public-private partnerships and funding. Such
partnerships may include agreements for longterm collaboration as well as agreements to
underwrite investments. Finally, innovative
entrepreneurship and a proactive approach by all
stakeholders are of vital importance to realise winwin solutions within 'preventative' farming
systems.
Secondly, it is essential to gain insight into the
long-term financial benefits of collaboration, and
to negotiate the financial room arising from these
benefits. This financial room will be determined by
the costs and benefits incurred by public and
private parties, including any missed benefits for
farmers and avoided costs for stakeholders such as
the Brabant Water Company, water management
authorities, provincial authorities and nature
conservation organisations.
Last but not least, collaboration between the
different stakeholders demands changing roles of
the government and the agricultural sector, i.e.

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Thirdly, we recommend to conduct a spatial
analysis to 'scale up' the win-win opportunities
discussed above. For example, maps combining
spatial data of organic farmland and nature areas
can show where agri-environmental management
schemes are most likely to be effective. Based on
these maps, target areas can be identified where
economic profitability can be linked to sustainable
use of natural capital.
an enterprising, proactive government that
supports entrepreneurs who create shared
value, and offers room for experimentation to
turn legal obstacles into business
opportunities;
an agricultural sector that deals proactively
with environmental issues and focuses more
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