Edible Waddenkust

In tune with the dynamics

The Wadden Sea coast is a unique landscape. Outside the dykes, the tides, sediment flows, seasons and fresh-salt gradients create a highly dynamic landscape that attracts many wading birds, fish, shellfish and other flora and fauna. Inside the dykes, optimal control of the fertile sea clay soils ensures highly profitable arable farming. Thousands of tonnes of seed potatoes from the northern clay soil are shipped all over the world. However, this situation is not sustainable indefinitely.

This landscape of natural and cultural abundance is under increasing pressure from climate change and sea level rise. Salinisation, periods of drought or extreme precipitation are making it increasingly difficult to grow a monoculture of agricultural crops. At the same time, the unique intertidal landscape, which is of great importance for the migration of millions of wading birds and migratory fish, is at risk of gradually being submerged by accelerating sea level rises and further warming.

In order to continue harvesting this landscape of abundance in the future, a change in mentality is needed: from a controlling approach, which attempts to eliminate all uncertainties and extremes, to a flexible attitude, which moves with the dynamics and diversity of the landscape. This attitude forms the basis for a new perspective: The Edible Wadden Coast.

Project details

Location
Waddenkust Groningen
Locatie
Groningen
Groote
627 km2
Periode
2020 -2021
Status
Afgerond
In opdracht van
Provincie Groningen en Gemeente Groningen
In samenwerking met
Platform GRAS
Honorarium
Merit Award, WLA Professional awards 2021, categorie 'Concept - Analysis & Planning'

In the Edible Wadden Coast, the landscape is a result of the dynamics and diversity of conditions. Building on the alternation between sweet and salty, wet and dry, high and low, and clayey and sandy, a wide range of conditions emerges that provide space for both flora and fauna and a varied food landscape. This richness in the area makes it attractive to live, work and spend holidays. The Wadden Coast thus becomes a buffet that everyone, both wading birds and tourists, can enjoy.

What do we eat in 2100?

Whereas the current system focuses on profit and bulk production of a few crops (particularly seed potatoes), thereby eliminating all uncertainties, a system based on the dynamics and diversity of the landscape offers the possibility of a wide range of products: from potatoes to cockles, from samphire to mustard and from Swiss chard to smelt. Our menu in 2100 will consist largely of local crops and catches, but also of new forms of protein such as seaweed and insects. By considering the Wadden Sea coast as a broad productive zone, where food production and nature are intertwined, an enormously diverse menu is created. With this approach, the coastal landscape of North Groningen can provide enough varied food to supply all three northern provinces year-round.

Circular agriculture

This productive landscape focuses primarily on the region rather than the global market and also offers opportunities for closing the cycles. By linking farms, raw materials and food can be exchanged, making the area less dependent on artificial fertilisers and concentrated feed. At the same time, opportunities arise for local processing and marketing of high-quality products from Groningen. This allows villages to reconnect with the coastal landscape and enables everyone to benefit from the new wealth.