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The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant

nationalgeographic.com

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Re: The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant

#231

Post by exhilaration »

Amygaz wrote: post #226
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…

Are tomatoes grown in the UK more tasty, or is it all the same? I am asking because I've moved back/forth a couple time between the US and Canada, and tomatoes made in the USA or central/south America are tasteless in the US. When I see tomatoes made in Canada in a US store that's what I buy, no matter what the price is, organic or not. Savoura is the brand that I prefer, but then again, I am not sure it is Canadian,…

Canadian tomatoes are almost certainly greenhouse-grown, see this earlier HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11919735

So they're plentiful and cheap, but generally lack flavor.

Re: The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant

#232

Post by RealityNow »

madmax108 wrote: post #3

Coming in from a country (India) which even today has a large agricultural community which still uses ancient tools for farming (tractors are pretty much the most many get up to, with proper cold storage facilities, greenhouses etc practically a pipe dream), looking at countries improve their techniques in such a manner makes me wonder what it will take to move my country to similar scale. Is it simply technical, or…

It's simple - if the private labor market is failing to provide something, then the government needs to step in to make it happen. This could be via subsidies/grants, creation of research institutions (like the university in the article), and/or creation of state-owned enterprises.

Unfortunately we've all been brainwashed by neoclassical economists and such to believe that free markets should dictate everything.

Re: The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant

#233

Post by djg3 »

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…

I was genuinely surprised to find hydroponically grown tomatoes here in the UK that are consistently delicious. They're called 'Pink Temptation'. They're expensive but the taste is worth it.

Re: The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant

#234

Post by DonHopkins »

jacquesm wrote: post #215
holografix wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find this really interesting, where in the world would it be considered bad form to sniff a tomatoe before purchasing?

Well, here in NL it certainly would if you went through a crate of tomatoes at the local supermarket and smelled all of them one-by-one.

You've got two nostrils, so sniff them two at time and take half as long.

Re: The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant

#236

Post by DonHopkins »

Udik wrote: post #186
jules wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buy this type of cherry tomato, they're nice and still relatively affordable: http://rooi.versuit.nl/media/catalog/product/cache/6/image/9... They won't beat summer sun grown tomatoes in warmer climates, but they're available all year round. A bit of sugar and a bit of acidity can boost the flavor of sub-par tomatoes, for example for a sauce.

My favourites, I eat tons of them, from Albert Heijn (common Dutch supermarket). But they're better in the summer, if I'm not wrong.

The Albert Heijn Song

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2yno1z

Re: The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant

#237

Post by sien »

EliRivers wrote: post #87

The amount of privileged, snotty complaining here about how they don't like the taste. If you don't like the taste, don't buy it; pay extra for something you do like the taste of. They're able to make a lot more food on a lot less land using a lot fewer resources. As far as I'm concerned, it's basically magic and given that the spectre of starvation has loomed over humanity almost forever, and is by no means permanen…

Wonder if there is someone out there figuring out there is also a market to find with better tasting things.

Mind you, perhaps it's not that big a thing if bland tasting food has done so well.

But these things also change. Look at how coffee has improved so much in the past 20 years for many consumers.

Re: The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant

#238

Post by jussij »

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…

> Presumably, Italy keeps its best tomato produce for themselves and I don't blame them

I think this also comes down to the trouble with transporting those types of tomatoes without loss due to spoilage.

The tomatoes you describe are exact the same as tomatoes sold here in Australia.

These Australian tomatoes have been genetically selected for characteristic that allow them to be picked green, ripen on the way to the supermarket and hit the shelves blemish free.

They look great on the supermarket shelf but their skin is as tough as nails and they pretty much tasteless.

The only

Re: The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant

#239

Post by riffraff »

YSFEJ4SWJUVU6 wrote: post #194
21 wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be highly surprised if in 100 years we'll still do this. It's only a matter of time until lab-grown meat is as good and cheap as the original, and then society will turn. Eating real animals will be something like hunting is now, a tiny thing and with huge image costs.

Hunting has huge image costs where you live? Are you sure it's not just inside your specific bubble?

I'm fairly sure hunting is declining in all of the western world.

As anecdata, consider the outlawing of fox hunting in UK, declining hunting love in France[0], and a similar decline in the US[1].

The more hunting becomes unusual, the higher the number of people who will consider it in negative light compared to those who view it favourably.

[0] http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-37865215 [1] http://deerfarmer.com/wiki/hunting-decline

Re: The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant

#240

Post by an27 »

spiderfarmer wrote: post #133
enraged_camel wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems strange to point out how well you are treating an animal when you are slaughtering it for consumption in the end. In fact that is the animal's only purpose of existence.

Maybe I, like all my predecessors, am not yet 'evolved' enough to give up on eating meat. In the meantime I like the fact that the animals are growing up disease free in relatively humane conditions.

I'm hoping to some day keep my own animals, to find out how the sausage gets made. I want to face the reality behind the sterile, bloodless chicken fillet I eat, and my apathy to animals.

Perhaps that will convince me to stop eating meat. Meanwhile I have bigger worries.

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