More than 80% of the farmland which was given a new use between 1996 and 2008 was used for residential or industrial development, according to research by the farming economic institute Lei for newspaper Trouw.

Just 7,000 hectares was turned into nature reserves and 8,000 hectares was set aside for water storage in flood basins.
The findings are at odds with claims by junior farm minister Henk Bleker, who says farmland is being eaten away by the development of new nature reserves, Trouw said.