Enlightened Dutch Farmer, John Arink
Enlightened Dutch farmer, John Arink
Enlightened Dutch farmer, John Arink farms sustainably with no fertiliser and heritage Frisian Dutch cows. He runs a calf love program. Calves feed naturally from their mothers. A farmer who believes that we must eat less meat.
The Netherlands, A Country Of Livestock, Grapples With Eating Animals
John Arink is in an unusual position: he’s a livestock farmer who believes that people need to eat less meat.
“We have to reduce our animal protein consumption, of course,” says the ruddy, bespectacled John, 33 years to the day after he first milked a cow on this land in the Dutch province of Gelderland. He says this as if it should be obvious, as if it’s natural for a farmer with cows to want consumers to eat less beef.
But he believes that all members of society, farmers included, need to do their part toward a future where humans, animals, and the planet are healthier. “We all have to move in that transition,” he says.
For the last three decades, the farm, Ekoboederij Arink, has had about 50 dairy cows, plus 80 or so beef cattle. These feed mainly on grass from 85 hectares – the bulk of the farm’s land. The farm also has small populations of pigs (living in multiple outdoor pens) and chickens (whose grass enclosure is rotated every week or two around a clever mobile coop that provides light and security).