Series of columns: How do you see the future of the Dutch polder landscape?

3 - A Dike Around the Polders

Vinus Zachariasse (General Director of LEI B.V., Agricultural Economics Research Institute of Wageningen UR)

When I think of Holland's polders I see images of flat, open landscapes with distant horizons under magnificent clouded skies. These images are burned onto my retina because I was born in Zeeland with a view of the dunes and grew up in the Noordoostpolder, where I often cycled off towards the horizon. The strongest image those experiences left me remains the sense of space. On returning to the polders I now have to revise my youthful memories somewhat. The magnificent skies remain, but the horizons have come closer and the landscape appears to have been folded in half.

Nonetheless, developments in agriculture give ample room for the restoration of the old image of the polders. The declining profit margin per unit of surface area necessitates a larger-scale operation. This greater scale fits entirely within the spacious image of the polder of old. In fact the former houses and stables of farmers and agricultural workers who have now stopped are redundant in many senses. A like-for-like rule based on building relocation would once again empty the polders and pep up the many small village centers. Like in a Mondriaan painting with its strong patterns it would demarcate space in the polders. After the Lely Plan, now it is time for the Mondriaan Plan.

This would give back space to many of the relatively new polders. However, the arsenal of polders is far from uniform. For many of the older, mostly smaller polders, the Mondriaan approach would make too much of the cultural heritage to disappear. In such areas my stereotypical image of the polder was never a reality and should not now be invented. You get the sense of space only if you stand atop the winding dikes. These dikes are silent monuments to protection and security. Their proximity in the small polders means they are far more apparent than in the large polders with their straight dikes.

It is precisely this feeling of safety that the dikes give that inspires amazement and unease in the average (old) polder inhabitant on hearing of their dismantlement. This most recent revolution in the polders may in some senses be defensible and will certainly provide space, but I can only think of it as un-Dutch. The arsenal of polder may be far from uniform, but the area they cover is small and is shrinking: our Dutch heritage, which should be diked in.

Vinus Zachariasse