Hidde Boersma (1980) is a freelance writer and filmmaker, with a background in soil microbiology. After a hard fought PhD, he found his passion in advocating an alternative way to optimize both food production and biodiversity. He is a relentless proponent of land sparing, where highly productive, highly technological agriculture is combined with returning large swaths of less productive land back to nature.
He does this through journalism, publishing op-eds and essays in newspapers and magazine, through writing books – he is the co-author of 5 books, including Ecomodernisme – het nieuwe denken over groen en groei (Ecomodernism – the thinking about sustainability and growth) and Meer – Hoe overvloed de wereld juist duurzamer en welvarender maakt (More – why abundance makes the world more sustainable and prosperous) – and through film making. In 2017 his production company Sugar Rush released Well Fed, a movie on how the resistance against genetic modification in the West, harms small scale farmers in developing countries. His latest film Paved Paradise (2023) makes the case that land use is the most important environmental measure, and that current extensification policies are misguided. The film toured cinema’s in 35 cities and is now doing an international festival tour.
He furthermore is one of the founding member of wePlanet, a science led NGO, that believes that progress and innovation are key to a sustainable and prosperous planet. He also founded Stop the Food Fight, where he, together with an ideological opponent from the Slow Food movement, tries to build bridges in the polarised food and agriculture debate. Finally, he is a much sought after speaker, with 4 Tedx-performances behind his name.
Hidde Boersma lives in Amsterdam-Noord with his wife and three kids. In his spare time he plays tennis, cooks and goes to concerts. He think more people should listen to the Mountain Goats