The Klompe family has worked this land for more than two centuries. The farm dates back to 1797, when it combined livestock and arable farming; after the 1953 flood disaster, it became arable-only. Gillis grew up here and took over the farm himself in 1996. Today he grows seed potatoes, table potatoes, onions, sugar beets, peas, corn, grass, and winter wheat, among other crops. The crops themselves haven't changed much. The way he grows them has. That turning point came in 2018.
2018: The Year It Clicked
Before 2018, Gillis barely noticed climate change. "We really hadn't been dealing with it all that much," he says. But 2018 was "an exceptionally bad year, extremely dry." That got him thinking: "how do you build resilience against these kinds of weather extremes?"
That's when he connected with Ger Kappert of Bij de Oorsprong. In 2021 and 2022, he took what was essentially an early version of the Regenerative Alliance course (the alliance wasn't officially founded until 2024) — twice. "It was a lot of information. Taking it twice gave us time to really think it through, and every time we picked up something new."
Step by Step
After the course, the real work began: realising things could be done differently, figuring out what that meant in practice, adjusting equipment, and waiting. After all, you only get one shot a year to try something new, and the weather is unpredictable. Gillis wanted to plant winter-hardy cover crops, for instance, but had leftover seed from an earlier planting that didn't survive the winter. "So you're a year further along before you get to try again." Patience, then, is the key word. "The theory holds up, but practice is messy and stubborn. This doesn't happen in two years."
The Soil Is Changing
And that patience is paying off. Colorado potato beetles have all but disappeared from the potato fields. Aphids in the table potatoes are nearly gone too, although Gillis still sprays the seed potatoes because of the risk of virus transmission. Soil structure and moisture retention have also improved, and the crops are more resilient. Gillis won't pin the improvement on any single measure: "It's the layering of practices: keeping the soil covered with green growth as long as possible, more crop diversity, all those principles together. That's what builds resilience."
"Aim for a 7, Not a 3"
Guidance from Dietmar Näser, who visits a few times each season, helps in that search. "He can often predict what's about to go wrong before it happens, and he keeps you sharp." His advice is practical: when the ideal outcome, a 10, isn't within reach, aim for a 7 instead of a 3. Not everything works right away. A compost tea application, for example, works differently than a chemical treatment: it targets the cause rather than the symptom, so it takes longer. Even Dietmar is still learning as he goes: what works abroad plays out a little differently here, and even within the Netherlands, it varies by soil type and climate.
Better to Start Too Early Than Too Late
Gillis doesn't necessarily see himself as a pioneer. "I just want to keep moving forward here and make things better. The soil simply keeps declining if we keep doing what we're doing. There are still chemical products to fall back on for now, but a lot of them have already disappeared in recent years. Whoever starts now will still have room to learn later on. Better to start too early than too late. Building up the soil takes years."
July 4: Stop By in Hornhuizen!
Gillis will be serving as the day's host at the Regenerative Agriculture Day. Stop by the open day in Hornhuizen on July 4. "The informal part is the best. That's when you can really just talk to each other about your experiences. I'm not out here to convert anyone, but if people have questions, I'm happy to answer them."