Back from the future: towards sustainable glasshouse horticulture in The Netherlands

The sustainability of the glasshouse horticulture industry in The Netherlands is determined by a number of different stakeholders, like government, society and consumers. Producers and representatives from these stakeholder groups may have different opinions about desirable development of production systems. The methodology of Sustainable Technology Development provides opportunities to bring stakeholders with different views together. This is done by identifying strategic problem perceptions among stakeholders, the creation of desirable and inspiring future visions, and backcasting from future visions to present day, which will clarify necessary actions. Several future visions were made for protected cultivation systems. Common elements are high-tech, high-output production systems in small scale multifunctional regions, like urban areas. Backcasting resulted in a number of promising research proposals. Stakeholders selected six promising projects, which will be carried out in 2004 and 2005. The results will contribute to more sustainable glasshouse production systems in The Netherlands. Another advantage of process oriented projects like this is the contribution to multiple stakeholder dialogue and social learning