You think you are doing nature a favor by growing seasonal vegetables and herbs on a small scale in a field near the Markdal in Ulvenhout. 250 members who work there as volunteers receive a share of the harvest. Nevertheless, the municipality wants Self-harvest gardening Wortels in Breda to disappear because it does not fit within the zoning plan that prescribes ‘nature’.
Horticulturist and initiator Veerle Bruning can’t believe it: “We are nature! This nature garden has many more different plants, flowers and insects than the herb-rich grassland that the province wants here.”
According to Bruning, some local residents are against the market garden and the municipality is afraid of lawsuits. A petition from the market gardeners to be allowed to stay was signed by 3,000 people. Nevertheless, the city council decided that the market garden must go.
The fields are owned by the province, which has put them up for sale for 80,000 euros. The participants of the social market garden want to buy them.
“It was clear from the start that this place was temporary.”
Provincial administrator Hagar Roijackers (GroenLinks) says in a response that this will not happen: “From the start it was clear that this place was temporary. The sale of the land is linked to the nature destination and we as a province are not concerned with that. ”
The action of Wortels in Breda is supported by future farmers, a national interest group for green farmers. “In many places, green farmers get bogged down by failing and outdated policies and by municipalities that don’t dare to change zoning plans. Wortels in Breda is a poignant example of this.”
“Children can see where their food comes from.”
Bruning throws her arms in the air almost desperately. “It’s terrible. You build something valuable together. A new experience in the landscape. Children can see here where their food comes from. And that is now being put to an end.”
The municipality of Breda says that it thinks Wortels in Breda is a great initiative with great social support: “But in a different place and to find it takes time.”
On Tuesday evening, the green farmers will go to the provincial government building in Den Bosch. With the elections just around the corner, they still hope to get a commitment. “We hope that green farmers get land where they can do what they do best: producing healthy food in and with nature.”
