The fact that support for bulb cultivation in Breezand remains high is due to its historical roots in the region, says Matthé van Lierop, chairman of the advocacy group for flower bulb growers (KAVB) in the Northern Sand Area and bulb grower. “It’s part of the region.”
Yet things do not always go well in this bulb village. Van Lierop himself once had a conflict with his neighbors in Breezand over the use of pesticides. “They were concerned about their health. We couldn’t reach an agreement and they ended up moving.”
Pete Poison
It is also good for support that growers are more careful than before, Douwe Herder (81) emphasizes in his doorway. He was born in Breezand and has always worked as an accountant for bulb companies. “The painter used to come here with a cart. We called him Piet Vergif, he was always completely yellow. You can’t imagine that anymore.”
His in-laws, like so many people here, had their own bulb company. “Most residents here are directly or indirectly linked to cultivation. The construction companies, export companies and suppliers, they all work with the bulb sector.”
How are the rules drawn up?
Yet there are also doubts in Breezand about the health effects of pesticides. Dutch farmers do not spray as many pesticides on any crop as they do on lilies: 37 kilos per hectare. That is almost twice more than apples and pears and almost five times more than potatoes.
Another villager, who lives a little further away but only wants to tell her story anonymously, says that she sometimes worries about her health. “I know that growers here adhere to the rules, but I sometimes wonder how those standards are established. Is what is being measured correct?”
According to the Health Council and the RIVM, things mainly go wrong in the authorization procedures for pesticides. The Board for the Authorization of Plant Protection Products and Biocides (Ctgb) does not take sufficient account of the effects of pesticides on young children, and of a possible relationship with diseases such as ALS, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. According to the RIVM, this relationship is ‘plausible’.
“In an ideal world we wouldn’t use poison,” the woman says. “But we should not create panic and we should continue to talk to each other.”