The quiet force behind the floriculture transition
Across the Dutch floriculture region, growers, researchers, government agencies, and banks are joining forces to build a more resilient future. But with so many different players at the table, transitions don’t happen overnight. Science can help. But how? Enter the knowledge broker: the invisible force that helps spark and sustain the floriculture transition.
Michelle Damen (Resilient Delta & TU Delft) and Martin Blokker (ACCEZ & Province of South Holland) play this pivotal role. As knowledge brokers, they are helping shape the Knowledge Program for the Region Deal Sierteeltsector.
Their work extends far beyond office walls. “We’re always out in the field—quite literally,” says Damen. “One day we’re walking through greenhouses or sitting at a grower’s kitchen table; the next, we’re in a boardroom or in meetings with a water authority. Just last week, we were in Hillegom and Lisse—located in the heart of the floriculture region—talking with leaders and entrepreneurs about the future of the Bollenstreek.”
“After a tour of a company that’s been active in the region for over a century, officials had the chance to ask growers directly about their personal motivations, concerns, and ideas. These are not easy conversations, but they’re essential. Because we don’t want to speak about the sector—we want to speak with it.”
Why is the floriculture transition so complex?
Martin Blokker: “This transition brings together four distinct worlds: government, academia, business, and finance. They all need one another to future-proof the floriculture region—but they rarely sit at the same table. Each has its own language, its own logic, its own way of working.”
Michelle Damen: “And its own pace. Governments and water boards think in terms of 2050. Growers look at their five-year loan cycles. Banks want to see annual profits, but also anticipate long-term trends. These different timelines can complicate collaboration.”
Martin Blokker: “Meanwhile, the floriculture region is facing mounting pressure: saltwater intrusion, water scarcity, stricter environmental regulations, declining public support, competing demands on land, capital-intensive operations, and the looming risk of a chain reaction if banks begin pulling credit. Everyone points fingers. The result is an institutional void—no single party feels responsible for initiating change. It’s a classic wicked problem.”
What exactly do you do as knowledge brokers?
Michelle Damen: “We try to break that impasse. We get the system moving by building bridges—between policy and practice, science and the field. We translate policy and practice into science, and turn scientific insights into practical insights that stay grounded in the everyday realities of growers.”
Martin Blokker: “That’s not always obvious to an economist or a climate scientist. They might say, ‘We know what needs to be done—we’ve got the models and the data—why isn’t anything happening?’ But a fifth-generation grower sees things differently. He’s not looking at economic models—he’s looking at the portraits of his father, grandfather, great-grandfather on the wall. He wonders if his own photo will ever make it up there. For him, the transition isn’t abstract—it’s deeply personal.”
Trust comes from consistently showing up—even when nothing’s concrete yet. That’s how we lay the foundation for the transition program still to come
So being a knowledge broker is about more than connecting facts?
Martin Blokker: “Absolutely. And to be clear—we’re not brokers in the commercial sense. We’re not here to close deals. Our ‘deals’ are relationships. Our job is to create connections and foster trust.”
Michelle Damen: “And trust is everything in a transition like this. When so much is at stake, for so many people, you need time and presence to build it.”
Martin Blokker: “Exactly. Trust comes from consistently showing up—even when nothing’s concrete yet. That’s how we lay the foundation for the transition program still to come.”
Michelle Damen: “That also means our work is often invisible. There might eventually be a multimillion-euro knowledge program—but the groundwork we’re doing now? That won’t be in the annual report.”
Martin Blokker: “And it’s usually not in the budget either. But it’s precisely that behind-the-scenes work that makes real, inclusive solutions possible.”
What would help strengthen the role of the knowledge broker?
Martin Blokker: “Just like an accountant is a standard part of financial reporting, a knowledge broker should be a standard part of any major transition effort.”
Michelle Damen: “And not just in the early stages. We need them throughout the research and implementation process. We also need what we call ‘cross-pollinators’—people who connect scientific disciplines and weave everything into a coherent whole. At Resilient Delta, we have GLUON researchers who specialize in exactly that.”
Martin Blokker: “Our role in the floriculture transition is still fairly unique. We often have to explain what a knowledge broker does. But I hope one day it’ll be completely normal—and that other sectors, from port logistics to dairy farming, will also build teams of knowledge brokers and cross-pollinators.”
Could this approach work in other sectors?
Michelle Damen: “That’s the ambition. Our method—combining scenario planning, economic modeling, behavioral analysis, identifying pressure points and timelines, developing financial tools and policy incentives—has the potential to benefit other sectors too. It’s all about building bridges: between science, government, finance, and practice. We do that through collaborative projects, and also by hosting expert meetings. One recent example was Finance Solutions for a Resilient Delta, where the floriculture region was a key focus. But the conversation was broader—it was about how to finance climate risks in the Netherlands, and how cross-sector cooperation is essential for resilience.”
Martin Blokker: “Every sector has its own dynamics. It takes time to build trust with stakeholders—especially when there’s a lot at stake—and to capture all that complexity in the data. We’ll need to apply this approach in one or two more sectors to see how replicable it really is.”
Michelle Damen: “And by taking that deep dive elsewhere, we’ll learn more about what kind of room for maneuver each sector actually has. It might turn out we need new financial incentives or regulatory tools to truly enable entrepreneurs to make the leap. We hope to explore those insights in a large national research consortium, working closely with the NL-AAA Climate Resilience initiative under the Dutch Delta Programme.”
