“Boud.” “Unheard.” “Weird.” “Shame.” These are some qualifications from the Bollenstreek about statements, last week, Van Dijkgraaf Rogier van de Sande of the Rijnland Water Board that will have disappeared from the Bollenstreek over ‘twenty to forty years’, as a result of climate change. And that, according to other water managers, this region could also be very suitable for building large numbers of homes.
The shock is good at the bulb growers. “I don’t get it,” says Simon Pennings from Noordwijkerhout, in addition to bulb grower also regional chairman of the KAVB, in full the Royal General Association for Flower Bollen Culture, and chairman of the Bollenstreek Alliance, a partnership that “sets the Vitality and the Unique character of the bulb region”. Pennings: “These statements came for us as a thunderbolt in a clear sky. We are constantly talking to all kinds of organizations in this region, also with the water board. We know very well that there is drought and that there is a lack of fresh water and that we have to take measures. But then to say that bulb cultivation will disappear completely?”
What should we do? Do we get floating bulb fields?
Pennings rather believes the opposite: that the Netherlands, including the Bollenstreek, is indispensable for Europe if climate change continues. “France and Spain have enormous problems with drought. Researchers tell me that Europe will soon lose those countries for food production. We have to cherish areas like our delta. Here you have to be grown.”
CDA alderman Theo Alkemade from Noordwijk speaks of “rough” statements about the Bollenstreek. Alkemade: “The Water Board has previously informed us that there will ever be a time when one will have difficulty in the region to be able to flush with fresh water to prevent salinization.
Core of truth
Maarten Prins, program manager of ‘Network Organization’ Greenport Duin- en Bollenstreek, also finds it a ‘boude statement’ that in the longer term no more bulb cultivation is possible. “But there is a core of truth in it. Namely that we have to act. Climate change looms on the horizon. What should we do? Do we get floating bulb fields? Can we no longer grow in certain places? Are we going to grow lamb’s ear here?”
Bulb grower Pennings (63) takes the reporter to some of his hundreds of hectares of bulb land. It is good to know, he teaches that the soil here, behind the dunes, is extremely favorable for bulb cultivation because it is only sixty centimeters above the groundwater. “We almost never have to irrigate here.” And measures against drought and salinization are always possible.
He points to a plot of faded tulips. There was a ditch that was closed at that location and a much deeper and wider voyage was built in its place. “You can buffer a lot of water there. There are also people and nature together. There are partridges, ducks, fishing. You can do that by parceling out plots.” So don’t say that bulb cultivation ends, but give farmers solutions. “Say where we have to buffer water. Underground? Above ground? Do we have to broaden? We do it. And if it is said that ten hectares are needed for buffering water, then you have a goal that you can talk about.”
Open nerve
What the Bollenstreek is traditionally wary of are claims to build homes. “That is an open nerve here,” says Program manager Prins. Thirty to forty years ago there were plans for a Vinex district. So if, like last week, it is stated that bulb cultivation is finite, but that the sandy soils are extremely suitable for building on large -scale, the emotions are high.
Director Marc van Brug of Bloembollenmuseum De Zwarte Tulp in Lisse even suspects that statements about the effects of climate change on bulb cultivation conceal what the Netherlands really wants: to build the bulb region. Van Brug: “It has little to do with drying out. It is sandy soil. That is cheap. You don’t have to hit the ground like seventeen -meter -long posts on peat soil. No bothered by groundwater. And it is an attractive area: between the cities, close to the beach, at Schiphol.” Bollenkweker Pennings: “Tourists say they want to buy a house here. Everywhere close.”
Tourists say they want to buy a house here. Everywhere close
As soon as building plans are discussed, the Pact van Teylingen is always called, an agreement from 1996 in which it was determined that there would be no large -scale new building, that urbanization would be limited to behind the line between Katwijk, Leiden and Alphen, and that the area between these municipalities and the sea, the Bollenstreek, would remain open. Alderman Alkemade: “We have a united strategy with thirteen municipalities. We want to keep the Bollenstreek attractive, as a mosaic landscape, a landscape full of color, a Mondriaan landscape.” Pennings: “I would prefer to turn it into a UNESCO area.” Alkemade: “The flower parade is already intangible heritage of UNESCO.”
Selfies
Various studies are ongoing for what the Bollenstreek looks like in about twenty years. Museumdirecteur Mark van Brug: „Ik denk dat we steeds meer de weg van het toerisme op gaan. Er komen nu al anderhalf miljoen mensen naar de Keukenhof en daar zitten al die mensen nog niet eens bij die selfies maken tussen de bloembollenvelden – en die ze daarbij vernielen. Als je de Bollenstreek wil behouden, moet je zuinig zijn op het landschap, op de cultuurhistorie, en moet je bollen kweken als een showcase, als voorbeeld voor de rest van het land, Ecologically responsible, with as few plant protection products as possible. “
All influencers, huh. They lay down everywhere, I had ten thousand euros damage. From my crocuses there was no more straight up, everything kicked up
Just like others, Van Brug mentions Tulip Experience Amsterdam, an initiative of Pennings, as an example. That is “a show garden” (in Noordwijkerhout) where you can stand in between flowers as a tourist and influencer, without damaging the fields. Pennings tells how he came up with the idea: “Six years ago, the trend came up to make selfies in dresses. So those ladies were suddenly all dressing on our country. And my people who worked there on that country became very distracted.” He laughs very much. “All influencers, huh. They lay down everywhere, I had ten thousand euros damage. Of my crocuses there was not a more straightforward, everything kicked.” Why did they do that? “They all say sorry, but they think the colors are unique, they have to do it for a while, they think this is the eighth wonder of the world.”
Border
A judge of the Rijnland Water Board says that the Dijkgraaf statements should be seen as “a wake-up call” for bulb growers. “And at the same time it is true that the soil and water system in the Bollenstreek is at its borders. Because the inevitable direction is clear in all scenarios: continuing salinization in this area, more weather extremes and declining fresh water. The large uncertain factor is time: how fast developments are going.
