The character of the green environment is changing. Housing, nature conservation, employment and recreation are supplanting farming as the major land uses.

Less farming, more residents and recreationists

The countryside is becoming less of an agricultural area. Other land uses, such as housing, employment, nature conservation and recreation are becoming increasingly important. Over the last 15 years 40,000 farms were converted to another use. Of these, 80–85% became private homes, 10–20% were converted to non-agricultural business use, and about 5% were demolished. The number of redundant farm buildings is about the same as the number of new houses built in rural areas. The numbers of holiday homes, riding stables and golf courses have also risen rapidly.

Between 1990 and 2006 the number of golf courses rose from about 100 to 179 (photo: Rijk van Oostenbrugge)

Changing character

As more and more people move from the cities to the countryside to live, work and pursue leisure activities, some areas are assuming a parkland character. In the municipality of Epe, for example, there were 475 farms in 1990, but in 2005 there were just 278. Now the landscape contains a wide variety of private homes and non-agricultural businesses, some with large car parks and paved forecourts.

 
170,000 private landowners together own 282,000 hectares of the countryside (source: Le Rutte et al., 2005)

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