Re: Holland bulb production
gardenchat@hort.net
  • Subject: Re: Holland bulb production
  • From: D* P* <d*@rewrite.hort.net>
  • Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2018 10:19:53 -0400 (EDT)

Kitty, as you probably know, much of the Netherlands is below sea level. For centuries, they've been building dikes to create polders (reclaimed land) and the building and strengthening of dikes continues.


My grandmother's family lost family members and friends in the great flood of 1953. I remember the tears falling and ears glued to the radio when I was a little girl, because even though my grandmother was born in Wisconsin, they kept up with family "back home". 


It was after the 1953 flood that serious engineering skill was called into action by law, and the dikes are truly amazing. I was in Holland in the 90s and they were incredible then, and one that we looked at was still under construction. I was told by one of the young Dutch men I know (a friend of a semi-cousin) that extreme engineering was continuing. The Dutch have also used large quantities of sand to give extra protection, and they created a complicated water gate system to manage water when it gets high. I went looking for more information and found this short article that might interest you. https://www.euronews.com/2017/11/16/dutch-show-the-way-to-deal-with-rising-sea-levels   There is much more out there if you Google Netherlands climate change, dikes, polders and the like.


By the way, if you're ever in the Netherlands, don't be surprised to be driving down a country road and seeing a ship above you. It's the weirdest feeling to be looking up at it instead of down.


Will the dikes hold? I don't know. How high will the seas go? A meter? More? How strong will the storms be? Will the dikes hold? Probably, though they might be overtopped by waves as some of the earlier ones were. 


The bulb fields, as you probably know, are not far from the sea. They are raised fields with drainage ditches every little bit. Water collects there and is pumped out to sea.  There is land farther inland that is higher. Bulb production might be moved there, though that would lose them the advantage of being so close to shipping points.


daryl



On October 14, 2018 at 8:32 AM Kitty Morrissy <1018@rewrite.hort.net> wrote:

This is not a political question.

 

60 minutes had a segment a few weeks ago about our escalating hurricanes and other oceanic troubles attributing the increase in strength to global warming. Whether or not you agree w the concept/reality, I was just starting to think about the bulb production in the Netherlands and how it might be affected. 

 

The show demonstrated how Denmark is protecting itself and their expert is helping here in the States.  The expense is enormous, but Denmark admitted quickly that  such drastic measures had to be taken or they’d be swallowed up.

 

Sure, Holland is further south but still, to my eye looking at the map, in a possible similar situation. Has anyone heard, or have their own thoughts on, what could happen in future to the huge commercial bulb production there? Or what they might be doing to protect it?

 

Kitty


 

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