Deep Roots

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exploitation of existing products. In this respect, analysing

old farms that have been successful for ages may be helpful.

How have these sustainable farms balanced family and busi-

ness interests while at the same time being innovative and

creative through 200, 300 or maybe even 400 years? The

search for the oldest family farm in the Netherlands is one

of the projects that has been initiated in the context of the

International Year of Family Farming. The search process is

led by the Family Business Research Centre of Windesheim

University of Applied Sciences and the Dutch Federation of

Agriculture and Horticulture. A public call has led to 135

submissions. In the summer, information was gathered from

the 50 oldest family businesses. The focus is on the oldest

family that still runs a farm, so the search is not for the oldest

business as such, but for the oldest entrepreneurial farming

family. We need to investigate the year the farm was estab-

lished and from that year to see a continuing link between

the family and the business. A jury of historians will check

the information sent in by families. With the help of these

historians, we will try to establish a list of old family farms

and will perhaps find the overall oldest family firm. For

now, this is Royal Tichelaar Makkum, a well-known ceramic

factory. This company has been a family firm since 1640,

and it is now in the twelfth generation under the success-

ful leadership of Jan Tichelaar. In November the list will be

made public.

The list of old farms will offer insights into best practices in

transgenerational entrepreneurship. Farmers can learn from

these best practices. The project draws attention to the major

achievement of the families behind these old farms. For the

sustainability of the agrifood sector in the Netherlands it is

important that society as a whole acknowledges the important

role family farmers have played in the past, in the present and

will play in the future.

Case study: from whaling to arable farming

For dozens of years the distant ancestors of Jaap Blaauboer were,

apart from being farmers, also engaged in whaling and fishery. The

family could not make both ends meet only by farming.

As far as they can verify, the family Blaauboer have been working

as farmers at their Barsingerweg farm in Wieringerwaard since 1710.

Many generations grew their crops, kept cattle and were also active in

fishery. “They even went whaling as far as Greenland,” 73-year-old Jaap

Blaauboer explained.

As well as the farm, Jaap’s grandfather, Cornelis Blaauboer (born

in 1870), had two ships, the Wieringerwaard I and II. His father Pieter

Blaauboer and his father’s brother had no interest in fishery, so at the

age of 78 grandfather Cornelis Blaauboer sold the ships. The farm, built

in 1893, had a gateway named ‘Agriculture and Sea fishing’, recalls

Blaauboer. “Rust ended its existence.”

Until 1960 the company was a mixed farm with dairy and arable

farming. Jaap Blaauboer chose to specialize in agriculture. He married

Marietje Jimmink (71). They had a son Pieter (47) and a daughter Simone

(43). Pieter, who lives at the farm, is married to the Polish Ursula Przybyta

(37), who is a teacher. Their daughter Charlotte is eight years old. Jaap

and Marietje Blauwboer live next to the farm.

Blaauboer senior is still very active on the farm. Jaap and Pieter

Blaauboer grow seed potatoes, sugar beets, wheat, barley and grass

seed. The company owns 27 acres of land and the other plots of land are

further afield in the polder. “It’s toilsome farmwork,” said Blaauboer.

Asked about his choice to be a farmer, Blaauboer said: “You used to

have no choice. My father said, ‘Don’t dream of becoming rich from this

work.’ But my choice of becoming a farmer was well considered. The work

is varied, from sowing to harvesting. No office work for me.”

Over the centuries, the Blaauboer family has moved from whaling to arable farming

Images: John Oud