In 2023, the turnover of multifunctional agriculture in the Netherlands was around 1.68 billion euros. This is considerably more than in previous years. This growth is partly due to the post-corona recovery, inflation, expansion of activities and further professionalisation.
'Multifunctional agriculture' means that farms offer other services besides traditional farming activities, such as healthcare, childcare, farm sales, nature management, recreation and farm education. This form of agricultural diversification not only contributes to the economic stability of the countryside, but also plays an important role in social care, education and nature conservation.
Trends
| Turnover 2007 | €300 mln |
| Turnover 2013 | <€500 mln |
| Turnover 2020 | €1 bln |
| Turnover 2023 | €1,68 bln |
Turnover of multifunctional agriculture
Farm sales were the largest segment in 2023 with sales of €595m, followed by care farming (€450m) and recreation (€362m). Agricultural childcare brought in €158 million, nature management €116 million and farm education only €0.9 million.
The growth in turnover is attributed to several factors: the addition of new activities such as direct sales of ornamental crops, higher rates due to inflation and increased demand for recreation, local products and professional care services.
The leisure sector has recovered well after the corona pandemic. After a sharp 35% decline in turnover in 2020, turnover more than doubled again in 2023 compared to 2020.
The number of farms with additional activities also grew to over a third (37%). Dairy farms are most active in education, nature management and childcare, while care farming and recreation are most common among other grazing farms.
Why choose extra on-farm services?
Researcher Harold van der Meulen of Wageningen Social & Economic Research says that farmers choose multifunctional agriculture very consciously: 'It's not just an alternative for farms that are struggling financially. As an entrepreneur, you have to have passion, you have to have feeling for it. And the conditions have to be right. It may be that the location of your farm, for example in a tourist spot, meets a need. Or that your partner or children have experience with multifunctional activities and see opportunities in this as a company to generate extra income and make a connection with society.'
In 2025 and 2026, Van der Meulen and colleagues from Wageningen University & Research will conduct further research into the growth potential of multifunctional agriculture towards 2035.
Source of data
The 'Monitor omzetontwikkeling Multifunctionele Landbouw 2023' was carried out by researchers from Wageningen Social & Economic Research (WSER) and Business Unit Field Crops, commissioned by the Ministry of LVVN. As in previous publications in the 'View on Multifunctional Agriculture' series, data from the CBS agricultural census form the basis for the study on numbers of farms. Based on data from sector organisations, through interviews with people from the sectors involved and a literature study, like in previous publications, a best possible estimate was made of the actual numbers of farms and turnover.
