Dutch Farmers Change the Landscape for Wildlife's Sake
2/1/99
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Title: Dutch Farmers Change the Landscape for Wildlife's Sake
Source: Sustainable Business Insider
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 2/1/99
Dutch farmers, aided by federal subsidies, now stake out canals for
wildlife, using willow branches instead of old cars and washing
machines.
Farmers and residents are becoming aware of the agricultural threats
pervading these verdant fields: pesticide runoff, increased development,
fragmented wildlife habitat, and intensive crop growing, which leaves
little room or fodder for wild animals.
Ferdinand Ex of Amsterdam's Environmental Planning Department says, "In
Waterland, farmers are in charge of the nature reserves and get paid by
the government for protecting the area and wildlife."
Says M. De Gier, a biodynamic farmer, "We've developed a program where
animals, people and nature are the three tenets of protection. 450
farmers of the 600 in Waterland are members, and each gets a task,
depending on what they can do. One example is a farmer flooding part of
his land to make a pond for birds during migration stopovers. The
lapwing has been helped tremendously by this." Most of the farms consist
of low-cropped grasses for dairy grazing; they are no orchards or bird-
friendly crops.
70 percent of endangered redshank birds and 80 percent black-tailed
godwits breed in the Netherlands. Farmers search for the birds breeding
in their fields, and mark the nests with a stick. They rig tractors with
chains to scare away rabbits and ducks hiding in the fields during
plowing time and build heavy wire cages over some nests, so cows don't
step on them when grazing. Many farmers also create big strips of
natural flowers and grains in between crops, as small habitat and
feeding patches.
"Volunteers and farmers work together to gather data on the
improvements," adds De Gier. "They also create small wetlands by staking
off parts of the canals to gather water.
Popular Dutch crops, including potatoes, flowers and sugar beets, use
vast quantities of pesticides. Piet Boogert, general manager of the
hotel chain, Golden Tulip (which recently launched a line of organic
foods for hotel guests), says this is changing. "The number of organic
farms are increasing rapidly in Holland," he says. "Farmers used to
throw leftover pesticides into ditches, which tainted the ground and
water. Now there's a waiting line to be certified as organic."
Contact:
Vereniging Agrarisch Natuurbeheer Waterland
Tel: (011)0299-430298
References
1. http://204.255.211.112/ColdFusion/news_top10.cfm