Famed Dutch tulip fields shrinking as flower growth soars

Despite a record number of tulip bulbs planted in Dutch fields this year, the famed traditional bulb-growing area around Lisse saw a decrease of 10 percent. The tulip crops are steadily spreading across the rest of the country, according to figures released by Statistics Netherlands. The tulip industry is booming and the cultivation area increased by almost 75 percent over the past 35 years. Noord-Brabant was the main tulip growing province in the Netherlands for some time, but the provinces of Drenthe, Overijssel and Flevoland are catching up. The shift can partly be attributed to the fact that the flowers had to make way for residential neighborhoods and industrial sites in the traditional growing areas. Innovation also played is part, making tulips easier to grow in a wider area. Despite the shift Prisca Kleijn, director of the Royal General Bulb Growers' Association, still sees the area around Lisse as the epicenter of the growing industry, she said to newspaper AD. "This is the core of the industry. Knowledge, research and exports are concentrated in the area around Hillegom and Lisse."