Overview of the food and agriculture situation in the Netherlands

This chapter describes the overall economic, social and environmental context in which the food and agriculture sector in the Netherlands operates, and the natural resource base upon which it relies. It provides an overview of the general geographical and economic characteristics of the Netherlands outlines the share of the agri-food complex in the economy identifies the main structural characteristics of primary agriculture and upstream and downstream industries provides an overview of the main food and agriculture outputs and markets and analyses the main trends in agricultural productivity and sustainability. It finally raises a number of issues the agri-food complex is likely to face in the future.