Anthony Blom (baptized Overveen, April 7, 1744 - Paramaribo, October 11, 1807) was a leading agriculture in Suriname.
In his youth he learned the field of gardener or gardener. In 1765 he was appointed by the Amsterdam merchant Pieter-Willem van den Heuvel as gardener and blank officer on the Meerzorg coffee plantation at the Taperoipakreek in Commewijne. Van den Heuvel acted as Dirk Jan Willem Hatterman, councilor of the Court of Police and Criminal Justice in Suriname and owner of the Plant Care Meerzorg. Hatterman was "married" in this plantation by his marriage to Henrietta Anna de la Jaille.
The function of blank officer was heavy. He had to supervise all work from early morning until late and report to the director. In the first four years of his stay, he extended the 85 hectares of coffee at Meerzorg with 32 hectares. After this period, he was promoted to plant director.
In these years he gained a lot of knowledge of agriculture in Suriname. Together with his friend Floris Visscher Heshuysen he planned to write a book about agriculture in Suriname. In 1786, according to a nineteen-year experience, the book Dissertation on Agriculture, in the Colony of Surinam, was published by Anthony Blom: brought to order; and provided with the necessary clarifications and proofs, by Floris Visscher Heshuysen, old ships of the city of Haarlem, formerly old Council of Justice, the Colony of Suriname. Heshuysen, however, had given this book out of Blom's knowledge. Both authors repeatedly wrote different pieces in various newspapers. The discussion ended with the issue of the Dissertation of Agriculture, in the Colony of Suriname by Anthony Blom in 1787.
In 1792 he married Johanna Egberta Eberharda van Griethuijzen. Shortly thereafter he became an administrator. An administrator managed a plantation for owners who did not live in Suriname. Usually they received 10% of the yield of the main product and another 10% of the by-products of the plantation. In 1793 he managed 9 plantations.
Between 1801 and 1802, Blom Surinamsche Landman published, or dissertation on various important topics concerning Surinamschen agriculture. In these publications he described the agricultural techniques very accurately at that time. They also give an idea of business management, authority and slavery on a plantation.
Blom had a long-term vision and was therefore critical of the current robbery in Suriname. To get as much profit as possible in as short a time as possible, too many trees were planted per hectare and no crop rotation was applied. As a consequence, even the fertile plantations in the coastal area quickly became exhausted. In addition, he also opposed the absenteeism of the plantation owners.
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