Characteristics of Dutch agriculture: Continuous change
In the second half of the 19th century produce prices in Europe plummeted, causing an agricultural crisis. This was partly a result of the import of cheap samll grains from the New World (USA). The reaction to this crisis differed in each European country.
The United Kingdom decided to liberalise and many farmers went bankrupt but found employment in new industries created after the industrial revolution.
The Germans and French chose protection and closed their borders.
The Dutch, already a trade nation, chose neither complete protection, nor complete laissez faire. They found a third option consisting of strengthening their competitive ability through land reform, stimulating cooperatives with market power and very importantly stimulating knowledge and innovation through private-public investment. During the last century this became the typical atittude and behaviour of the various countries in Europe when crisis occured. You could characterise Dutch agriculture as being a sector that successfully exploits the constant dynamics of change to improve its competitive power and in doing so, it makes the best possible use of knowledge and innovation.
In economics, laissez-faire describes an environment in which transactions between private parties are free from state intervention, including restrictive regulations, taxes, tariffs and enforced monopolies.
The phrase is and literally means "let do", but it broadly implies "let it be", or "leave it alone." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laissez-faire