| The Dutch farming sector does not only take into account vegetable productions, breeding and forestery, but also the proccessing of the modification of farm products into farm-produce foodstuffs, the trade which supplies upstream the farmer with seeds, fertilizers, cattle food and capital goods (premises for breeding, greenhouse). Besides production, the sector develops different activities in the field of leisure activities (campsites etc.) and preservation of the countryside (zones with contract of management, maintenance of quickset hedges, etc.). The Netherlands are known as important agricultural exporters in the world due to the know-how of their farmers (helped with research network, development and training), the superior and constant quality of the products, the efficiency of the marketing system and the inner market of the EU. Nevertheless, sometimes the ways of production affect the quality of the soil, the water and the air. In response to such problems caused by new techniques, the surplus of fertilizer and of the massive use of pesticides, more appropriate methods and better techniques are introduced. In The Netherlands, more durable agricultural forms of production tend to be reached, as the organic agriculture and ornamental horticulture. |
| The agricultural surface covers about 800,000 hectares in The Netherlands. |
| 127,367 |
Crop |
Yield (in Metric Tons) |
Surface (in hectares) |
Yield Hg/ Ha* |
Potatoes
|
8,200,000
|
183,000
|
448,087
|
| * hectograms/hectares |
Species |
Headcount |
Pigs
|
13,138,000
|
| 155,000 |
| 565,000 hectares. |
Shellfish, mollusks and cephalopods |
Saltwater fish |
119 270.
|
424 708.
|
| 462,885 Tm. |
