Large numbers of tulips, roses and ornamental shrubs are produced in the Netherlands. The European parliament is considering a ban on a number of pesticides, raising the fear of trouble ahead for Dutch nurseries.
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"There are lots of small nursery businesses in the Netherlands, and they often have just a few products available to combat attacks by disease or pests. If those few are taken away, they'll have nothing to fight the disease or pests with."
Development
Manufacturers are working on the development of new pesticides which will be less damaging to the environment, but the process takes time. Mr Spoorenberg says the question is whether Europe will give the gardening sector that time.
"If the products are banned with immediate effect, people will find themselves suddenly without any alternatives."
Dutch Labour Party MEP Dorette Corbeyd doubts whether it will turn out all that bad. She believes exceptions will be made if no products are available other than those on the blacklist. The banned pesticides will be able to be used until alternatives are found.
Disaster for sector
Flower bulb nurseryman Martin Zandwijk from Noordwijk, the famous bulb producing region north of The Hague, thinks the European plans spell disaster for the sector.
"If these European measures go through, it'll mean the death of the sector. We already have stringent rules governing the use of pesticides in the Netherlands. Brussels wants to impose even more regulations. We growers are above all concerned with the quality of what we produce. If we can't protect the bulbs in the winter, their calibre is greatly reduced. What's worse, the harvest is much smaller because fewer survive.
I chair the Agriculture and Garden Nursery Organisation's Flowering Bulb Environmental Group and I'm receiving a massive number of calls from worried colleagues. We've already travelled to Brussels for clarification of the proposed measures. It's not just bulb producers who are affected. The pesticides in question are also used in arable farming."
Mr Zandwijk explains the Dutch flowering bulb sector is too small to develop its own pesticides. This is why there is close co-operation with the arable farming industry. Wheat farmers will probably also be affected by the new European regulations, as he explains:
"They have far bigger harvests than bulb producers, and will be hit hard by these measures,"
* RNW translation (mw)
Tags: Dorette Corbeyd, flowering bulbs, flowers, pesticides, roses, tulips