“Once you’ve made the transition to organic farming, you’ll never want to go back. Not for yourself and not for your animals”, says Jan Overesch of Raalte in the eastern Dutch province of Overijssel.

Overesch started the transition of his mixed farm in 1994, with his arable land. In 2002 he decided to also go organic with his sows and pigs. “For pig production the transition is much more complicated, because you need so much extra space. The sows need grass and must be able to go out into the field”, he says.

The Right Partner for Export
Pork from Overesch’ farm finds its way to butchers and supermarkets in the Netherlands, Germany, France and the UK. And with 700 pigs this is not a small-scale farm in terms of organic farming. Other organic pig farmers in the Netherlands run farms of about the same size. “There is nothing wrong with small-scale organic farming”, says Overesch, but a small-scale farm is just not the right partner for an export company or a supermarket.

“Our buyers demand that every animal we deliver complies with the same specifications: with high quality meat, and always exactly the same amount of fat”, he says. And for that you need a modern farm with modern breeding methods.

“I’ll be honest. This was something that we had to get used to, but once a system like that works, it really is a strength. Supermarkets expect a standardised, high quality product, and through careful planning and deliveries we manage to meet their demands”, he says. “In intensive piggeries people are used to that kind of production, but the fact that we manage to meet similar criteria through organic farming is quite something.”

Food Security
Another major point for supermarkets and international clients is food security. And that is another thing Overesch and his colleagues worked on very hard. “It is a combination of animal welfare, health and traceability of the meat. We recently had a visit from a delegation of our British clients. Food security is a major issue in the UK, but they were perfectly satisfied with what they saw.”