An application of Olympe in the

Netherlands and new possibilities

Co Daatselaar & Niels TomsonAgricultural Economics Research Institute LEI/Agrocenter for strategic entrepreneurship

Contents

Context to which Olympe has to fit Development dairy farming in the Netherlands Interactive Strategic Management (ISM) Use of tools

Olympe with case Prins family Chosen strategies Some results

A way to fit Olympe to ISM-context Further developments

Other agricultural sectors

Development dairy farming Netherlands

1990: 47.000 dairy farms, 2004: 24.000 Role government changing during last decades

First supporting and stimulating Then controlling laws Now facilitating

Experiences from several projects with farmers Goal oriented farmers achieve better results than ‘guideline’ farmers Strategic point of view required to improve sustainability Interaction with stakeholders to handle influence from environment and

to acquire knowledge No unanimous “best solution”

Interactive Strategic Management: main principles

The entrepreneur as pivot Advisor in facilitating role

Strategy is leading Sustainability integrated in whole strategy

balance between People, Planet and Profit In interaction with environment

Dialogue with stakeholders Interactive Strategic Management has been

developed to support the farmers in their new role in an uncertain environment.

Several ISM concepts and tools developed

Interactive Strategic Management (2)

Entrepreneur as pivot Initiative and responsibility with entrepreneur Focus on drive and competences of farmer Advisor facilitates (process-guidance)

Improving indicators within strategic framework For farmers individual indicators are no goal itself Start with mission and strategy of entrepreneur

From general strategy to improvement plans Develop general strategy with Game Simulation Dairy Make improvement plans fitting with general strategy

Interactive Strategic Management (3)

Mission and indication of strategy Why are you a dairy farmer? What are your personal goals?

Main results: reasons to be dairy farmer To be independent (make your own decisions) Work in and with nature (animals) Return on investment not a major drive, continuation is. “This is the best job in the world”

Goals/strategy Growth Optimizing technical and economical results Improving image of dairy farming

Use of tools: Face-It bench mark tool (1)

Tool Face-It is used to benchmark individual farm results. Face-It can work with any database User can select criteria for creating benchmark

mirror-group In many cases the mirror group is based upon

structure criteria (size of farm (quota), soil type, kg of milk produced per hectare)

Helps to analyze strong and weak points Results in report

Use of tools: Face-It bench mark tool (2)

Use of tools: Game Simulation Dairy (1)

Use of tools: Game Simulation Dairy (2)

Farmer’s own data Farmer runs program!!

Chooses management measures Makes management measures concrete Looks at the results (technical, financial,

environmental) Adapts management measures Compares packages Chooses best plan Farmer gets printed version of best plan

introduction1

quantification screen7

measure screenchoose measures

6screen

edit companyspecificdata (prices e.d.)

4

screen choosesector + company

2

Olympe

show bedrijfsdatascreen

3

edit prices5

detail screen/popup-crops,

- manure

8

Interface

Calc-sheet(codes)

Select measures

quantify measures

Use of tools: Game Simulation Dairy (3)

Use of tools: Game Simulation Dairy (4)

Use of tools: Game Simulation Dairy (5)

Olympe with case Prins family: present situation and basic scenario Data

• Dairy cattle 250 dairy cows, 180 young stock

• Milk quota 2.1 million kg• Land 150 ha.

Basic scenario (scenario 1)• Introduction milk premium• Replacement of existing barn and milking

parlour• Investment €550,000,-

Olympe with case Prins family: other scenarios Scenario 2

• As scenario 1 plus• Installation for biogas including third gasmotor• Investment €1,800,000.

Scenario 3• Growth to 350 dairy cows and 250 young stock• Modern barn with 3 automatic milking systems

and buying of milk quota• Installation for biogas including third gasmotor• Investering van €3,250,000,-

Olympe with case Prins family: family income from farm

Scenario: 2Scenario: 3

Scenario: 1

Olympe with case Prins family: cash flow

Scenario: 3

Scenario: 2

Scenario: 1

Scenario: 1

Scenario: 2

Scenario: 3

Olympe with case Prins family: own capital

Olympe with case Prins family: further work Good discussion with participants

presentation Very interested in possibilities Olympe

Further work Risk analysis (e.g. fluctuation of interest rate) Splitting project in trees: herd, biogas Improvements Olympe for Dutch circumstances

• Dutch income tax• Alternative systems of depreciation• Import to/export from Olympe (Procedure(?))• Other?

A way to fit Olympe to ISM-context (1)

Use of principles of Game Simulation Dairy Farmer runs program!

• Facilitator gives an introduction (one hour) Interface to enter measures and their quantities Interface invokes Olympe to do calculations Farmer looks at results in Olympe

• ‘en cours’/’resultats’; explanation during introduction• Scenario must be saved

After closing ‘resultats’ direction goes back to Interface

• Farmer can change measures: new scenario

A way to fit Olympe to ISM-context (2)

A way to fit Olympe to ISM-context (3)

Further developments

Integration of tools• Benchmarking (Face-It) and game simulation (Olympe) under one interface

(ISM) Tools must become independent of agricultural sector Building up a network of institutes to exchange methods,

knowledge and tools (AgroCenter Europe) In 2006 Global Dairy Farmers was founded. An international

network of dairy farmers (Europe, USA, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand)

• Create a platform for knowledge exchange• Develop projects to get high level knowledge input (e.g. World Wide Dairy

Monitor and Outlook)• Connect global knowledge with national networks

A challenging job to do

© Wageningen UR

More information

English: www.agrocenter.nl Dutch: www.lei.wur.nl/NL/onderzoek/Expertise/Agrocenter

Co Daatselaar: co.daatselaar@wur.nl / +31 (0)320 293 544 Olympe, Stars, GSD (concerning content), ISM

Niels Tomson: niels.tomson@wur.nl / +31 (0)320 293539 Tools general (technical), ISM, Olympe interface

Other tools we use: Strategic Management Report: Personal report that guides the

entrepreneur through the ISM process. Strategic Management Tool: calculates competences, internal

and external factors through strategies. www3.lei.wur.nl/LEI_WebTools/ (on this moment only Dutch)