Land Use

The invention around 1530 of the baggerbeugel, a sharp-edged dredging net on a long stick, made it possible to dredge the bogs beneath the waterline. The extraction of peat from bogland remained crucial to the prosperity of the Netherlands in the 17th and 18th centuries, but it had profound effects on the landscape. In this low-lying country, the lowering of the water table caused the ground level to drop even further as the drained peat eroded and settled. Initially farmers grew grain crops on the drained bogland, but the already marshy countryside became increasingly unsuitable for arable farming. It was still perfectly adequate for livestock, pastureland and animal forage crops, however. Livestock and horticulture farming have long been the two most important specialisations in the Dutch agricultural sector. The Netherlands imports grains, both for domestic consumption and trade.