To See the world in a Soybean

Imagining a post-animal protein Dutch landscape

If we were to write a global history of the modern Netherlands, animal proteins would be the main theme. Despite the country's tiny size (41.865 km² ) the Netherlands is the second biggest exporter of meat and dairy of the world, just after the United States (9.830.000 km²). To achieve this mind boggling result we have ruthlessly reduced animals to their most basic protein producing functions, thereby creating a landscape that is utterly instrumental to what we perceive as our economic needs. 

But the costs of maintaining this position are extremely high. By now we have eaten away many times the surface of the Netherlands of rainforest in South America and South-East Asia through a supply chain of soy, palm oil, tapioca and corn for animal fodder. And we have also turned our own landscape against ourselves. The Netherlands has become a biodiversity desert of monocultural high energy crops for animal feed, dotted with mega-farms: ‘livestock facilities’ that hold hundreds of millions of chickens, pigs, cows and goats. This intensive animal farming not just causes the air and the water to be so poisoned with excess NO² from animal excrement, that European environmental law forbids us to build homes in the midst of a housing crisis, bus is also leaking viruses into their direct surroundings, forming immunological time-bombs for the world.

The Dutch have sacrificed biodiversity, air quality, animal welfare, immunological health and literally half of the entire land surface to the production of meat and dairy, despite it only contributing 1,5% and 75.000 jobs to the national economy (culture and media contribute 3,5% to GDP employ 331.000. ‘Our’ sector emits  616 mTon of CO² versus dairy and milk’s 17.500 mTon).

So why not just quit?

The immense costs of past choices are equaled by the abundance of possibilities that opens up if we would just make the small economic sacrifice of not producing meat and dairy anymore. Even if we would choose to replace the animal proteins with homegrown plant proteins, the abundance of space, biodiversity, clean air and natural beauty would overwhelm us. It would be a pleasure again to live next door to a farm, instead of risking asthma, zoonotic disease and an early death. The entire spatial planning logic of the Netherlands would be turned on its head. It is almost too much to imagine. That is why we invite you to help us!

Course structure

Building on our first studio in 2025, we will continue exploring the spatial impact of the food industry in the Netherlands. In this four-day workshop, spread over two Friday's and Saturday's, we will analyse our own consumption, discover the current landscape of animal proteins, see the alternative as represented by organic farms and meat and dairy substitutes, and speculate on what a post animal protein future would look like.

Programme

Friday 15 May 2026
10:00 - 12:30 Welcome and Introduction lectures.
12:00 - 13:00 Lunch break
13:00 - 14:45 Mapping excessive
15:00 - 16:00 Presentation on research project Nederland Veganland 
16:00 - 17:00 Conversation about the insights of today

Saturday 16 May 2026
10:00 - 17:00 Bus excursion along different places of food production in The Netherlands.

Friday 22 May 2026
10:00 - 12:30 Work on Assignment: Imagining a post-animal protein Dutch landscape
12:30 - 13:30 Lunchbreak
13:30 - 15:00 Lecture about the future of the Dutch landscape by Dirk Sijmons
15:00 - 17:00 Work on Assignment: Imagining a post-animal protein Dutch landscape
16:00 - 17:00 conversation on insights

Saturday 23 May 2026
10:00 - 12:30 Work on Assignment: Imagining a post-animal protein Dutch landscape
12:30 - 13:30 Lunch Break
13:30 - 15:30 Work on Assignment: Imagining a post-animal protein Dutch landscape
15:30 - 17:00 final presentations and conversation on findings and position 

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This studio builds upon the research Nederland Veganland by Strootman Landschapsarchitecten (Berno Strootman, Lotte Embregts, Lisa Peters) and the centre for het Institute of Environmental Sciences Leiden (CML) (Joran Lammers, Jan Willem Erisman).