The Netherlands is the 2nd largest exporter of food in the world, second only to the United States. Among these exported foods are 1780 million kilos of vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and eggplants. Imagine the consequences if that food supply was disrupted. In the Netherlands, 80% of SME's have been affected by a cyber attack. On a global scale, the economic damage of cybercrime is estimated at 11,5 trillion in 2023. The Dutch horticulture sector has so far no reports of serious cases of cyber crime, however the sense of urgency to improve cyber resilience in the sector is growing. To that end, Cyberweerbaarheidscentrum Greenport (CWG)(Cyber Resilience Centre Greenport) was launched in October 2022.

Securing horticultural supply chain

The Dutch horticulture sector has been pioneering with new technologies for decades. This is fueled by its entrepreneurial and collaborative nature, combined with its vicinity to Wageningen University, the world’s #1 agriculture university and the worlds #16 best university of technology; TU Delft. As a result, the sector is highly digitised and supply chains are interconnected, making it highly efficient but on the other hand also vulnerable for cyber threats. As the producer of one of our most critical resources, protecting companies in the agriculture sector against cyber threats is of great importance.

That is why The Hague-based Security Delta and Greenport West-Holland initiated CWG, which is made possible by a number of public and private organisations and universities. “CWG supports horticulture organisations with the steps required to advance the security of their digital assets and creates awareness for the matter in the sector,” Anne continues.

Support from the renowned cybersecurity community in The Hague

“The Dutch cybersecurity community is internationally renowned for its advanced knowledge, skills and highly effective approach,” says Anne. “The Dutch security cluster ‘Security Delta’, located in The Hague plays an important role, connecting the cybersecurity community across government, companies and academia. We proactively team up with cluster organisations from other sectors such as the horticulture sector. This way the members of the cluster organisations have access to the knowledge and expertise available in the cybersecurity community, which really helps them with getting their cybersecurity up to the required levels,” she continues.

At the moment, the number of participants finding their way in CWG is growing, as are awareness and investments in digital security. “More companies treat cybersecurity with urgency,” says Anne. “Our work is far from done, but we do have a solid basis on which to continue our efforts to secure our digital infrastructure and economy. We invite other EU countries to contact us and share experiences. Together we can achieve more and support larger numbers of organisations with securing their digital assets. After all, the supply chains cross borders,” Anne concludes.