![]() In the arable farming sector, producers are shifting towards more profitable crops such as potatoes, onions and flower bulbs, rather than crops with lower profit margins such as grains. In the land-based livestock sector that means producing more milk per hectare, by maximising roughage production on the farm and relying more on bought livestock feed. So our land use keeps growing more intensive. With a hectare of land being so expensive, it needs to be intensively used to make it economically viable. That’s because we use the land in our fertile delta not just for agriculture but for many other things too, making agricultural land relatively scarce. The Netherlands happens to have the most expensive agricultural land in the world. One important underlying cause of intensive soil use is the high economic value of land. These impacts can include eutrophication of ground and surface water, declining water retention in the soil, and higher greenhouse gas emissions. This will lead not only to a decline in yields and possible problems with crop quality, but also to negative impacts on the quality of the local environment. Poor soil quality might manifest itself as soil compaction, soil-borne pests and diseases, and pH levels being too low. Intensive soil use – with a high proportion of cash crops, intensive tillage and a relatively low level of organic matter – along with careless soil management can in many cases lead to less than optimal soil quality. Notions of quality are highly dependent on user objectives: the soil we might want for environmental objectives is not the same as we might want for agricultural objectives. We should note that although many people use the terms “sustainable soil management” and “healthy and vital soil”, it’s still not very straightforward to define soil quality. Today, the worries are about how intensively soils are being used, the growing pressure for land to be used for purposes other than agriculture, and a greater dependency on natural processes beyond our control. So as long as our agricultural soils are fertile, does that mean we don’t need to be concerned about the quality of the soil? No – there is real cause for concern. Maintaining the productivity of agricultural soils requires a smart combination of fertilisation, crop planning, drainage and tillage. Soil management also ensures that soil life can thrive, and this helps to decompact the soil, release nutrients and prevent pathogenic organisms from taking hold. This management is the only way to ensure that soils can deliver nutrients, there’s enough water available, and that crops can establish deep roots unhindered. By nature, soils are not an infinite source of water and nutrients, and agricultural soils therefore need to be managed. This balance relates not just to carbon, nitrogen or phosphate, but also to the necessary soil structure and the organisms that live in the soil. Because the harvesting of crops removes nutrients, and natural processes break down carbon and acidify the soil, it’s important to restore and maintain balance in the soil. The current quality of our agricultural soils is the result of a combination of natural factors such as soil variety and the depth of the groundwater, as well as human interventions such as fertilisation, ploughing and liming. ![]() ![]() ![]() We can’t take good soil quality for granted. Good soil quality cannot be taken for granted Of course, other factors come into play here too, such as the development of increasingly high-yielding crop varieties, but such good results wouldn’t be possible if you don’t have good soils to start with. Compared to international standards, crop yields are very high, and are still improving for many crops. If we just consider the productivity function of agricultural land it’s difficult to conclude that we have a problem. ![]() But there’s certainly a significant element of human influence too: thanks to the creation of agricultural plots, water management, and years (or even centuries) of fertiliser application, soil quality has improved so much that high-yielding crops can be grown everywhere. To some extent, this has come about naturally: in river deltas along the coast, fertile clay gets deposited by the rivers and the sea, and in wet conditions this leads to peat formation. All of this means there’s hardly any marginal or unproductive land in the Netherlands. Our soils are highly fertile, we have good water management, and the land is level (apart from in South Limburg). Let’s start with the good news: the Netherlands has excellent agricultural land, certainly when compared to agricultural soils in other parts of Europe or the rest of the world. ![]()
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