| In spring each year, the Dutch countryside puts on a multi-coloured coat. Since the first flowering in 1594 of bulbs brought back from the Ottoman Empire by the Austrian Ambassador, four centuries of selection have enabled the development of more than 800 varieties of tulip. In the Lisse region, bulbs are grown to be sold. With more than 23,500 hectares, the Netherlands is responsible for 65% of the world’s production of flowering bulbs, some 10 billion bulbs. But this brilliant result has not been achieved without a cost to the environment: in the 1990s, pesticide use in tulip bulb production was among the highest in Europe. The public authorities and the private sector signed agreements on the use of chemical products, waste and energy, and the growers have started to use natural predators to protect the fields. This growing environmental awareness is spreading all over the world; for example, in many towns in Canada, or Rennes in France, the local authorities have forbidden the use of chemical products in public parks. |
.&title2=Tulip fields near Lisse, Amsterdam Region, Netherlands (52°15’ N, 4°37’ E).&title3= "download in wallpaper")
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