The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant • Hacker News Board

Re: The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant

#171

Post by Boothroid » Sun, Sep 03, 2017, 8:54 PM UTC

jessaustin wrote: post #35

cirrus-clouds wrote: post #10

Here in the UK, tomatoes from the Netherlands are the most common sold in British supermarkets. Unfortunately, they are quite flavourless. The type of tomato (and price) makes no difference (organic, vine-ripened, salad). Most of them are usually semi-ripe. Even if you allow them to ripen at home for a few days, they are still quite tasteless. Presumably, Italy keeps its best tomato produce for themselves and I don't…

In much of the UK (presumably in the far north it wouldn't work well?) the way to get tasty tomatoes from mid- to late-summer would be to grow them oneself... Of course during the winter tasty fresh tomatoes are unavailable.

Indeed, I wonder how hard those complaining have tried to use local UK produce in season. Go to a restaurant that serves good food using local produce. I do this when I can afford it - I've had some fantastic food, comparable to anything elsewhere in Europe, and some UK fruit and veg is amongst the finest available - a couple of examples - British asparagus, and Yorkshire forced rhubarb - amongst the best available anywhere.

Re: The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant

#172

Post by ciconia » Sun, Sep 03, 2017, 8:56 PM UTC

For all those complaining about the (lack of) taste - the best tasting tomatoes are the ones you grow yourself in your back yard, and this is from personal experience. You can muse all you want about how Italian tomatoes are superior to Dutch ones, but nothing can beat the knowledge that what you have in your plate was grown by yourself on your own little plot of earth, with just a bit of patience and diligence.

Re: The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant

#173

Post by hwillis » Sun, Sep 03, 2017, 8:56 PM UTC

selimthegrim wrote: post #123

hwillis wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We've seen this interest in the past in the afterwake of Katrina, and we've been exporting this knowledge for quite some time. Unfortunately, it's probably a difficult problem to solve on the massive scale the US needs. Interestingly, this is a nearly 200 year old problem in America. Most spectacularly in Chicago[1], where the city was barely above the natural water table (Lake Michigan). As the city grew they prod…

I presume this is why they reversed the river too?

The sewage drained into the river, which drained into the lake, which was where they got their fresh water, so they built a new river to reverse the original one:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Sanitary_and_Ship_Cana...

It's kind of amazing that such a poorly-formed plan didn't go catastrophically wrong, but it's worked okay for over a century.

Re: The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant

#174

Post by victornomad » Sun, Sep 03, 2017, 9:01 PM UTC

Lots of comments here about tomatoes without flavor.

Tomatoes are seasonal too, best ones are in summer. That's why people made sauces and kept them for the winter. Willing to have fresh tasty tomatoes during the whole year is not an easy task...

Another factor is that tomatoes are harvested green and ripened using ethylene gas just before hitting the shelves.

Re: The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant

#175

Post by dep_b » Sun, Sep 03, 2017, 9:04 PM UTC

I was actually surprised that in Argentina most fruits and vegetables are exactly the same as in Holland. No difference at all! It must be the same efficient way of growing things all year round that the supermarkets use.

Re: The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant

#176

Post by wavefunction » Sun, Sep 03, 2017, 9:05 PM UTC

atmosx wrote: post #18

thriftwy wrote: post #14

There will be 10 billion people on Earth. Growing food for them needs a tiny area in highly developed countries via industrial farming. But what would that 10bn people do then?

Read Plato, Kant and Keynes. Possibly write new plays, enjoy wine and explore space?

I think with climate change wine won't necessarily be as available as it once was.

Re: The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant

#177

Post by ars » Sun, Sep 03, 2017, 9:06 PM UTC

jorams wrote: post #104

ars wrote: post #54

You can do some amazing things with enough energy! And the Netherlands have a lot of extra energy because of all the geothermal energy they get. This is not [yet] replicable to other places though. Hopefully soon - unlimited energy would utterly change the world.

Do you have more information on this geothermal energy? Clicking around here[1] suggests the Netherlands doesn't actually use much geothermal energy at all. [1]: https://www.geothermal-energy.org/direct_uses/netherlands.ht...

From the article:

"The growing environment is kept at optimal temperatures year-round by heat generated from geothermal aquifers that simmer under at least half of the Netherlands."

Re: The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant

#178

Post by thriftwy » Sun, Sep 03, 2017, 9:06 PM UTC

imtringued wrote: post #97

forkLding wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Move from primary to secondary and then tertiary or just jump to tertiary or even reach quanternary sector Talking about three sector theory

I think the parent implies that automation and lack of capital to invest into automation will make those sectors inaccessible to untrained and unskilled people in developing countries. Usually inequality between countries or people is reduced by rich and poor trading with each other. But what if the poor have nothing to offer to the rich? Then the only option is to work for their own sustenance which means farming.

There's this saying about comparative advantage. But what happens when poor country doesn't have any comparative advantages over rich country? Or a few really tiny and disgusting ones which definitely won't support hundreds of millions people?

Re: The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant

#179

Post by ars » Sun, Sep 03, 2017, 9:07 PM UTC

pjc50 wrote: post #112

ars wrote: post #54

You can do some amazing things with enough energy! And the Netherlands have a lot of extra energy because of all the geothermal energy they get. This is not [yet] replicable to other places though. Hopefully soon - unlimited energy would utterly change the world.

Have you got them confused with Iceland, or are thinking of wind energy?

I saw this in the article:

"The growing environment is kept at optimal temperatures year-round by heat generated from geothermal aquifers that simmer under at least half of the Netherlands."

Re: The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant

#180

Post by jules » Sun, Sep 03, 2017, 9:08 PM UTC

guelo wrote: post #102

jacquesm wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can learn how to tell them apart if you want. Stepdad was a greengrocer so to me this is second nature but when looking for tomatoes take the smaller ones and the darker ones. They're most likely to be the ones that taste better, even when you pick them from a batch. People instinctively seem to go for the brighter and larger fruits but those are almost always the bland ones.

In my experience smell is the best indicator. You want your fruit to smell like fruit. If it has no smell it doesn't have any flavor either.

The tomatoes themselves don't have a strong smell, though the vines do.