The Organisation of Agricultural Research

Abstract

The emergence of agricultural science in the Netherlands and its colonies implied the addition of an extra branch to the Dutch tree of science. The reception of the new facilities for agricultural science by the existing education and research institutes differed from great enthusiasm to clear scepticism. Clearly, agricultural science was different from other forms of science. The most common distinction was between pure or fundamental science on the one hand and applied science on the other. Almost every scientist, including agricultural scientists, agreed that the latter category also embraced the agricultural sciences. In this chapter it will be shown that the agreement more or less stopped at that point. What exactly the distinction implied, who was capable and competent for either forms of science and how the two should relate in organisational terms was all subject to discussion. Especially during the first two decades of the twentieth century the debates were rather heated. In that period the organisation of agricultural science went through a crucial period and not every member of the academic community was pleased with the chosen format. Agricultural science embraces research and education, and although the two elements are connected in many ways, the analysis of research and education is divided over two chapters. Education is the subject of the next chapter and in the following pages the development of agricultural research is examined. Central are the ideas, accusations, defences and plans formulated for agricultural research and how it should be organised. The idea of this chapter is not to settle the hash once and for all about the distinction between pure and applied science. The variety of interpretation of the categories and the effect of these interpretations for the organisation of agricultural research are far more interesting and important than the essence of the categories as such.