VEEN BREED

Commissioned by The CBK Utrecht Hans Venhuizen wrote the project VEEN BREED. By meaning of three projects VEEN BREED shows that culture is the connector between the landscapes of yesterday and tomorrow.

The aviation pioneer Albert Plesman, founder of the KLM, developed the myth of the Green Heart. One day he flew above the west side of the Netherlands and saw ‘ a ring of cities at the border of a big green open space’. He called the ring of cities The Randstad and the open green space in between The Green Heart. Like the orgin of the name the Green Heart has long been a myth itself. Exuberantly celebrated by lovers of the countryside who recognize the essence of the cultural landscape of Holland, but ambivalent approached by the various governments who have struggled for decades into the desired special status in fact be embedded. Besides the home of Holland’s cultural landscape, authorities saw the area as potential void in the middle of densely populated part of our country. But now it seems so far. The Green Heart escaped to the myth and reality. But that is by no means the end of the spatial developments. The Green Heart is constant claimed en disclaimed by a jumble of initiatives, ambitions, desires and events.

The Green Heart in its originals form captured of water peatland areas, has since the Second World War process a few attack waves. First, infrastructure and urbanization stormed the area. Unlike ‘normal’ peripheral areas of big cities like Paris or London, by the growth of the city only get worse, the Randstad is the opposite. When the Randstad grows, its edge shrinks the Green Heart and even disappears over time. Even if it would basically still largely remain, it is recently more and more hidden from view. As a wave of ribbon development, the ‘view site’ businessarea rolled along our highways. But the business in sight disturbs the very sight of the underlying landscape. Nature development was the following wave of attacks on the qualities of the landscape. The last twenty years the development of natural areas over the preservation of the cultural landscape and made godwit and bittern seemed higher in the ecological pecking order than the ecological cow and sheep. We’re currently in the midst of a “water wave”, the urgent and often rigorous adjustment of the landscape in view of the expected impacts of climate change. The assault waves have one thing in common, each time the farmers are in the defense. Not because of an innate resistance to change, on the contrary, these claims are simply at the expense of the agricultural production area in the Green Heart. This is precisely the very essence of the Green Heart. The area in fact conquered the swamp to serve as agricultural production landscape and for centuries by farmers developed, shaped and provided into the landscape that we so appreciate.

Care with help of cows

For decades vision to vision of the Green Heart accumulates, with tumbling cultural historians, landscapeguards and nature lovers on each other to prove its qualities, but local administrators, under the guise of the planned local economic health, where possible, go their own way with the admission of new buildings. An impressive amount of Pacts, Covenants, Program offices, Implementation programs, Projects and Atlases are doing their best to prevent undesirable developments and to cause desired changes. But the boundary between them is often poor to make because nobody aspires downtime and everyone also has the attention for the qualities of the landscape. The intentions are expressed and the quality requirements set.

At this moment it is important to carry out those intentions and wishes and convert them into real quality and appealing examples.

While at the negotiating table more or less firm commitments are made, on the drawing boards plans are in progress, and at the ’shop floor’ developments still going on. Farmers play a prominent role in those dynamics. For years they had a hard time. Natural areas, water storage, housing and infrastructure claimed their production area in which they are busy time after time to process the new Brussels rules and developments on the global market.

But these rules and the high price of land recently hamper the “natural” development of farming: expension. The media looms a picture of a relentless stream of stopping farmers from which we seem to favor that the agricultural the rural areas increasingly disclaimt.

But precisely the stagnation in the agricultural development manifests itself increasingly as a driver for a new dynamism. Farmers are growing because ‘broadening’. With their foodproduction they search again for direct contact with the surrounding cities, they specialize in specific regional food or deal with landscapeproduction. Promotion and support of the latter are even agrarian nature conservation organizations formed as Vockestaert in Central Delfland or Utrechtse Venen. Besides the provision of these ‘green services’ more and more farmers open their farms for education, recreation and care and make it (some of) their income separately from food.

In Noord-Holland became in the spring of 2007 the first ‘care farmers’ their diploma.

Farmers have a concern, although agricultural production in their business but offers daytime activities and therapy for, among other places handicapped and ex-addicts. This caring role is often more important for income as the actual agricultural production. The dairy farmers are not supported by the dependentent for the actually milkproduction but produce care by cows. The life care farmers marks not the break but correctly restore the ancient relationship of agricultural area with the city. Farmers traditionally provide the needs of the city’s that could only be facilitated in open surrounding area, as with the production of food. But in the period since the Second World War urban and rural areas become increasingly estranged. As in the urban development there was an extreme separation of functions. During the reconstruction farmers no longer deliverd to the city but to the worldmarket and the townspeople got their food no longer at the greengrocery but in the supermarket. With the provision of care the close relationship between urban and rural is recovered. In the future, when farmers are still the centre on recreation and such assignments as water storage of air and water purification and in this way compensate functions of the cities, this relationship will only be stronger.

Vision prohibited

Instead to look at the farmer as one discipline of the worldmarket and food producer handed to Brussels, who is captured in a vicious spiral of corporate innovation and expansion and who is turning round and round, we have to see him as someone who produces things in the agricultural landscape which the surrounding the cities need such as care, openness, nature and recreation. That’s opens a world of new production. Basically it makes the farmer the most important cultural historical constant in the region. Not in its appearance as farmer of reconstruction, the post-war industrial farmer with many technical innovations to breeds its production, even at the expense of the landscape. No, the farmer of about one hundred years ago. A farmer who wanted to produce and had to work in a difficult landscape. He invented small-scale interventions, which then created the landscape that we now know as the most valuable cultural landscape of Holland. Not a on the drawing board created imaginary landscape that is established by large machines and then must be maintained by high cost, but a fine sense of landscape that is constantly made and continues by increasing ambitions and new problems for utility, pleasure and specification to be deployed. This innovative farmer has gained in advance as a pioneer, entrepreneur and inventor. Pioneer in new forms of business in the Green Heart, entrepreneur in finding financing and grant opportunities and dealing with the extensive and complex rules and invented new forms of care, education and recreation. This farmer is not served by another vision of the Green Heart in 2040 after drawing through a lengthy consultation process with many parties with conflicting interests and a much longer wait on an uncertain realization process. This farmer plans today to start with the realization of tomorrow. If he must wait for the results of “the vision” his company has already bankrupt. This farmer does not benefit from the promising outlook for 2040, but with active support in improving, creation, design and marketing of the products he wishes to place on the market of tomorrow. That he gets respect for his role as creator, supporter and developer of the landscape that he has been for centuries.

VEEN BREED

The project VEEN BREED will make knowledge and networks of artists and designers available to those who emerge increasingly as the most creative innovators of the area, namely the farmers. In recent years, the project Zangsporen in the heart of the Green Heart, Utrechtse and Hollandse Venen, involved many artists and designers in the changes in the area. There were unexpected cultural and historical features of the area uncovered and artists involved in the design of new nature. During projects as the ‘polder Guardian’ and events like the ‘days of the peat’ separate sides of the area where made visible. VEEN BREED, makes the farmers centrally and will be located for this purpose as a consultancy office established in Kamerik. Kamerik and the neighboring village Kanis are part of the municipality of Woerden. Kamerik is a little discovered part of the Fens where residents and businesses develop their own qualities and propagate them. Within VEEN BREED three projects are developed who are explained in the following sections. ‘The truth of the cow’ explained the established design consultancy. The “Pursuing the Green Line” provides information about the “red line” of the project office and in “The regional museum of the future” the research project will be put out. The various projects are presented here separately but eventually developed in conjunction.

They encourage and strengthen each other with information and contacts and are therefore not shown separately. As a first act VEEN BREED will place some “VISION PROHIBITED” signs to the access of the Green Heart. Not to discourage looking into the future but to indicate that the future starts tomorrow and there is no need for foresight which perspective lays a long way off into the future?