Jan Hassink, researcher at Wageningen University & Research (WUR), was appointed Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau on Saturday 17 October. Hassink received the honour in recognition of his outstanding scientific and societal contributions, particularly in the field of care farming.
The Mayor of Renkum presented him with the royal honour during a festive gathering at Hoeve Klein Mariëndaal in Arnhem. The award came as a complete surprise to Hassink. He was attending the official opening of a renovated barn and an autumn fair at Hoeve Klein Mariëndaal, a care farm he co-founded in 2004. Little did he know that the gathering was also an opportunity to celebrate his own achievements. Family, friends, neighbours, colleagues and people involved with the farm were there to share this special moment with him.
A pioneer in care farming
As a researcher in agricultural systems at WUR and Wageningen Plant Research, Jan Hassink has made an important contribution to the development and recognition of care farming in the Netherlands. Through his research into the societal impact and added value of care farms, he helped raise the profile of the sector. He also contributed to its professionalisation, for instance through his involvement in developing a quality assurance system that is now used across the sector.
Hassink has also promoted care farming internationally, organising study visits to Dutch care farms for international delegations, including visitors from South Korea and Japan. He has earned two PhDs during his scientific career. His first PhD, completed in 1995, focused on soil organisms and soil organic matter. His second, in 2017, explored how care farming, then still an emerging sector, had developed so successfully. In recent years, Hassink has been involved in the Nationaal Voedsel Beraad (National Food Council), which connects food communities and raises their profile. A common thread throughout his work is therefore strengthening communities: in the soil, on care farms and around food.
More than twenty years of community involvement
Alongside his scientific work, Hassink has dedicated more than twenty years to Hoeve Klein Mariëndaal. In 2004, he founded this social enterprise together with his wife, Ellen Oomen. The farm provides meaningful and inspiring daytime activities for people with care needs, in an environment where they can feel part of the wider community.
Since its foundation, Hassink has been deeply committed to developing the farm, largely on a voluntary basis. The initiative has grown into an established care organisation on the Mariëndaal estate, on the outskirts of Arnhem. Hassink stepped down from the board earlier this year. The royal honour is a special recognition of his many years of dedication.
The honour came as a complete surprise to Hassink. "I appreciate the recognition of my efforts to help create a better and more inclusive society, but what matters more to me is that we are doing this together with a large group of highly committed people working to bring about change. By working together in care farming and food communities, we deepen our research and scientific knowledge and make it useful to society. This gives me a great deal of energy and inspiration and enriches me both as a researcher and as a person."
