“After graduating from Warmonderhof, I want to create the kind of place I have been looking for myself: a market garden where people can meet and learn about sustainable food, where they can dine; a place to make connections; with each other and particularly with nature. I need a place like that myself.”

“After graduating from Warmonderhof, I want to create the place I have been looking for myself”

Laura van der Hoff (28) is a first-year student at Warmonderhof at the time of this interview. She follows the biodynamic cultivation worker course.

“I knew early on that the office and corporate life wasn’t for me. This course is the stepping stone leading to my new path. Everyone here shares the same ideals and future plans. You never stop learning in this sector. Here you learn about vegetable/fruit/livestock farming, about soil processes and how everything relates to each other. The wonderful thing is that you can apply this knowledge on your working farm and then share it with your fellow students.

You never stop learning in this profession

My ‘journey to Warmonderhof’ lasted a year. I worked full-time as a project manager at a media consultancy and grew up in a city. I became increasingly intrigued about the origin of our food. Up close, I saw how not to do it: the food industry is focused on scaling up, short-term gains, and export. Everything is very individualistic and has to be available 24/7. We need to move towards more small-scale farms, local production, organic food and living in accordance with the seasons. There’s still so much progress to be made.
I started doing research by visiting city farms and markets. At the Stadsboerderij Almere and from people in my surroundings I heard about Warmonderhof. From my first day there, I knew: this is it, but how on earth do I fit this into my life? Nevertheless, I changed course radically and applied to join the programme.

Internship, school and work all aligned with each other

Meanwhile, I’m doing an internship at Stadstuinderij Noord-Oogst in Amsterdam, and after two months at Warmonderhof I quit my job and started looking for a position that was a better fit for the garden and the direction I’m now taking. And I found it at the Louis Bolk Institute, the research and knowledge institute for sustainable agriculture, nutrition and health. In my role as project administrator, I advise and support researchers in their planning, accountability and finance. In fact, exactly the same as what I was already doing, only now within sustainable agriculture. At school, I learn the theory of biodynamic agriculture, I get the practice at my internship location, and at work I get a combination of the two!

Optional subject agroecology

At Warmonderhof, I opted for agroecology, which assumes that you adapt the entire farm to the surrounding ecosystem and landscape. You look for crops that support biodiversity and hydrology, such as agroforestry and natural water systems. It’s also what’s called ‘principle farming’, where you look for multiple industries/businesses on the same piece of land, local markets and seek to reduce global impact through importing fewer raw materials.

Everyone here shares the same ideals and future plans

After Warmonderhof, I want to create the place I have been looking for myself: a market garden where people can meet and learn about sustainable food, where they can dine; a place to make connections. I need such a place myself. I’m rather new to this world, but I find it so inspiring. I used to tell myself that farming was not for me but now I’ve found out that I can build this bridge. I notice that people appreciate that I’m able to combine my background with the knowledge and experience I’m now gaining at Warmonderhof and during my internship. I’m connecting those two worlds. Maybe I will eventually create a combination of project management and biodynamic agriculture. That’s actually quite a good balance.”

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