Adaptation of knowledge systems to changes in agriculture and society: The case of the Netherlands

Agricultural sciences developed in Europe from the middle of the 19th century onwards. In the Netherlands, a national agricultural research and education system was established in 1876. Initially, the emphasis was strongly on education and applied research. The higher professional school for teaching agriculture, horticulture and forestry at Wageningen was admitted the status of technical university (‘Hoogeschool’) in 1918. Complementary to the university a wide array of discipline-oriented research institutes and commodity-oriented research stations were founded; especially after World War II. Since the 1980s, the system had to face new challenges and adapt to a change in societal needs and policies. A radical restructuring of the old diverse system into one organization for research and education, Wageningen University and Research Centre, took place in 1998. In this paper the developments in agricultural research and education in the Netherlands will be presented in a historic context and the recent evolutions in agriculture-based research and knowledge systems are evaluated. It is concluded that societal needs, scientific discoveries, and public and private funding are the driving forces behind change. However, most important for the quality and vigour of knowledge centres is the ability to adapt to change.