Imagining the future of smart farming
The House of Active Citizenship facilitates dialogue on smart, sustainable and social agriculture
On Friday, 17 October 2025, 24 people from Türkiye, Hungary and Utrecht engaged in lively dialogue on the future of smart farming, at the House of Active Citizenship in Utrecht. In the morning, I gave a presentation introducing the international policy context. This included the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, The Green Deal and Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union, the strategy to become Climate Neutral by 2053 of Türkiye and the EU-Türkiye agricultural trade agreement. I also touched upon the recent report of the Lancet Commission on healthy, sustainable and just food systems: https://www.thelancet.com/commissions-do/eat-2025 which includes actions aiming to ‘produce the planetary heath diet within planetary boundaries’. Then, participants engaged in a role play in 2040, where climate refugees from lower parts of Utrecht find refuge in shelters in the higher grounds of the city centre, while forest fires and extreme heat threaten major cities in Türkiye. In imagined context, four young farmers pitched their business plans to investors, big food companies, consumers and environmentalists. Ahmet is a Turkish organic animal farmer. Belinda has plans for a Dutch Community Supported Agriculture growing organic fruit and vegetable. Ceyda is a Turkish smart vertical vegetable farmer, while David is a Dutch high tech animal farmer.
In the afternoon, the four young farmers engaged with other participants on a backcasting exercise in a world café setting. Returning to 2025, they started to co-create plans for the next 15 years, addressing the question: “How can we strengthen desirable and weaken undesirable developments in collaboration involving Turkish and Dutch youth towards climate change-proof Smart Farming in 2040?”
