Sustainable flower bulb production: prototyping integrated flower bulb production systems on sandy soils in The Netherlands.

摘要

Flower bulb production in Netherlands is economically successful. However, production methods rely heavily on external inputs, causing contamination of surface and groundwater. The use of pesticides has been estimated at 100 kg active ingredient (a.i.)/ha in 1994. In the same year, the annual use of nitrogen and phosphate was 310 and 130 kg/ha respectively. Over the last decade, the Dutch government established targets for the input and emission of pesticides and (in)organic fertilizers, energy useand volume of production-related waste. Prototype flower bulb farming systems, with regard to these objectives, were developed, tested and improved on three experimental farms. This article concentrates on the results of two experimental farms on sandysoils in the west of Netherlands during 1991-97: De Noord at St. Maartensbrug and De Zuid at Hillegom. At both experimental farms, the use of pesticides was reduced to at least 75% compared to the reference year of 1987-88. Considerable reduction in theuse of soil fumigants and fungicides was realized, but not of herbicides and insecticides. The use of nitrogen and phosphate decreased to approximately 215 and 55 kg/ha respectively. The integrated prototypes of experimental farm De Zuid were economically competitive with flowerbulb farms in the same region. Integrated farming prototypes of De Noord were less profitable due to suboptimal soil conditions, over-ambitious research targets and inexperienced management. As a spin-off of this farming system research, 24 flower bulb growers are converting to integrated flowerbulb growing on their farms. They are supported by research and extension workers.