It is sometimes difficult to distinguish salinisation damage from drought damage. That is why it is good that farmers themselves measure what is happening in their plots and ditches, together with the water board.
Fixeau equipment in use by farmers measuring water in Negenboerenpolder
The placement of the first Aqua Pin in the Negenboerenpolder on 18 May marked the formal start of the ‘Boeren Measuring Water – Salinization’ project in the province of Groningen.
The Aqua Pin was placed in a field of winter field beans, close to the Waddenzeedijk in Kloosterburen. Project participant Pieter Meijer sketched how his ancestors contributed to the draining of the polder in the 1970s. “So we know what it means to grow crops close to the sea. But I am curious about what exactly is happening in the ground. That is why I participate in Boeren Meten Water.”
Lammert Westerhuis, LTO Noord department chair at Hogeland, called salinization ‘the invisible problem’. “It is sometimes difficult to distinguish salinisation damage from drought damage. That is why it is good that farmers themselves measure what is happening in their plots and ditches, together with the water board.”