Throwback Thursday – interview: Growing potato seedlings on own soil; the smart way.

In our brand new section ‘Throwback Thursday’ we dive into the rich and long history of Girugten by revisiting or republishing interesting (translated) articles of the past. In this first edition we ease into it and rewind to 2017. The original article, written by Bart-Peter Smit was first published in Dutch here, and the translation below was done by Thijs van Soest. Enjoy!

At many farms, precision agriculture is already used in autonomous driving systems and localization via GPS. The Girugten editorial team wants to know how this phenomenon takes place in practice. Therefore, at a warm summer evening, Jeroen (de Regt, editorial team member), Lisette (Woltjer, editorial team member) and me ended up at the kitchen table of Derk Gesink. He is an expert in the field of precision agriculture and he has the possibility to implement new innovations directly at his own farm. In the Groninger clay at his farm in Mensingeweer, he mostly grows seed potatoes, which are exported all around the globe. The main question the editorial team has for Derk is how he uses precision agriculture to achieve the highest possible yield on his farm.

By using GPS, it is possible to know the location of the plants and drive in-between the rows. Source: Derk Gesink.


Derk tells that he first came in contact with Netscape (the predecessor of the modern internet) during his study ‘plantenveredeling’ in Wageningen. His interest was directly attracted, which indicates that he is a so-called ‘early-adaptor’ of new technologies. After his study, Derk first worked somewhere else before joining his father in agricultural life. Around 2005, Derk used his knowledge of technology to implement a GPS-system to a tractor. This system enabled him to partially drive autonomous across his field. At that time, the precision of this kind of systems increased fast, from 1 meter deviation to only 2 centimeters. Derk emphasizes that he thinks that he will be able to completely autonomously drive with his tractor in 5 to 10 years. He expects it to be much earlier than when he will be able to drive his car autonomously, because of all the extra space a tractor has around it.


Nowadays, Derk is the owner of the agricultural company that was his father’s before. He tells about the agricultural life so close to the civilised world. His neighbours moved from the Randstad to Mensingeweer and are living close to his farm. Multiple times they wondered if he was allowed to spray pesticides so close to their homes. He confirms, but he stresses that the rules and regulations are strict. If only 4 drops of pesticide end up in a 70-kilometre long ditch, the authorities can notice it, with a hefty fine for the farmer as a result. Furthermore, Derk finds it important to make this clear in the area, also to raise awareness for agriculture. For him, it is important to show that precision agriculture is also an example of sustainability because it is a method to obtain maximum profit with minimal input.

Profit optimization

Derk stresses that the Netherlands is an unusual choice for agriculture. Because of the 17 million people, there is relatively few land available for agriculture, which makes the land expensive. Therefore, it is important to treat the ground well, at the same time as realising maximum profit. He sees precision agriculture as essential to achieve that profit maximisation. Also, he expects the degree of adaptation of precision agriculture to be an important aspect of the rate of success of specific agricultural companies.

Drones

In agriculture, GPS usage is a very common thing. Partially self-driving tractors and calculations of precisely where a seed has to be planted are some examples. For those known with precision agriculture is this phase also known as ‘precision agriculture 1.0’. The next phase (2.) is the ‘smart’ monitoring of the crops. As a renewing farmer, Derk is already busy with phase 2.0.

While we walk to the barn where the drone is stored, we pass a variety of impressive agricultural equipment that somewhat amazes us. And also that equipment is packed with sensors to measure a range of variables. Light-hearted explains Derk that the machine we watch can process 3000 kilos of potatoes with ease. Actually, he would have liked to analyse those potatoes on their size and weight directly, however, that is unfortunately not possible with the current technology.

Letting the drone fly is easy, Derk tells us while he grabs a tablet. On the tablet, an application is installed with which he can select the parcels where the drone needs to take images. This application will then automatically choose the optimal flight path and send it to the drone, after which the drone will follow that route fully autonomously.

The drone in action. Source: Derk Gesink.

Laws and regulation

The Dutch law states that there always should be someone who has the drone in sight at all times. Furthermore, drones are prohibited from flying higher than 120 meters, and they are not allowed to fly over people. Luckily, there are not that many people on the Groninger countryside, but for farmers as Derk, it would be nice if they were allowed to fly somewhat higher. That way, the drone could take pictures of a larger area, leading to less time spent on this by farmers. Besides that, it is a challenge that someone should always have the drone in sight. The drone is able to fly its paths completely autonomously and it is even possible to let it do that on a periodic base. At the moment, Derk still loses quite some of his precious time on monitoring his drone, a task he would love to outsource.

Other farmers prefer the ‘wait and see’ approach concerning drones. That is because it is quite an investment and start-up problems are guaranteed. Laughing, Derk tells us about some of the hardest crashes of his expensive drone, including one happening where it fell on the ground only meters away from the waterside. There are always some (small) problems and interest in technology is, therefore, a requirement for working with the newest iterations of precision agriculture according to Derk. He works on his drone frequently himself. At this moment, it is really pioneering, you need to make sure that your normal work will not be brought to a standstill due to these problems. When having problems, you should be able to put your drone away and fall back on more reliable alternatives. The next quote comes directly from the interview with Derk:

”It is also a piece of technology. Many farmers do not even know how to operate such a tablet, let alone that they are able to solve all the issues you have with a drone when you want to let it fly. You have to be a bit crazy for that.”

The data

When flying over the plot, the drone takes a picture every 5 meters. As a result, a plot easily delivers 200 pictures. Those pictures map differences, out of which zones can be made. An example of the usage of this data is that the pictures show Derk the spots where too much fertilizer is used. The next time the ground will be fertilized, Derk can inform his machines with this date to use more fertilizer at the spots where it is needed, and the other way around. This way, Derk can use his resources more efficiently, which is good for the ground and for his wallet.

On the basis of this data, it can be seen that the health of the plants in the field is not distributed evenly. Source: custom drone.

The drone is able to measure 5 different light spectra. The first one is the ‘normal’ spectrum that we see with our eyes. Besides that, the drone can see in infrared, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) and red-edge. By combining the red-edge view with the RGB view, the percentage green on the field can be measured. And a green field means a more successful field than a less green one. In fact, you can then measure the success of the crops on the field. By combining the spectra, a relation with the amount of nitrogen can be observed in the plants, an important factor in the growing process of plants. Currently, nitrogen is the only element of which such a relation is observed. Derk says that precision agriculture would be helped enormously if this kind of relations with other elements that are important for the growth of plants, like potassium, is determined.

Problems with the data and their improvements

At this moment, there are no reliable algorithms that can accurately interpret the data. That means that there are yet no instructions that the computer can use to calculate what the pictures really mean and how the strategy needs to be adapted to it. So, for now, the farmer still has to interpret the data himself with his own feeling and experience.

That computers are yet not able to do that work is mainly the result of the diversity of the differences in the factors that are responsible for the different measurements. it can be due to a difference in moisture, structure, amount of fertilizer, etc. The expectation is that these instructions will be available (soon) when more data is available. In that case, computers can teach themselves to come up with instructions based on the data, a process that is also called ‘machine learning’. Connecting data is, as Derk says, “the holy grail of precision farming” and the drone data is only a small link in that.

The plan is to keep an eye on the soil even better than now and to continue testing with the drone. Sensors will be installed in the field that will measure a wild variety of variables, such as moisture and soil conditions. This has to be done at many spots to be able to spot differences at areas that are as small as possible. The drone will then fly over once a week to monitor the growth of the crops. With that data, a system can get started and calculate the probability that the degree of growth will go in a certain direction. The hope is that the farmer will be able to predict how a plant will grow and to take action at an early stage to make that plant grow even better. This increases the yield while reducing the pressure on the soil.

In addition to analysing the data, the size of the data is a problem. Many farms have a very slow internet connection. Derk is happy with his 100 Mbit connection, but the majority of the farms have to do with much slower internet. For example, a participant in Derk’s innovative only has a 2Mbit connection. All data from the drone must be processed externally and when you consider that a day of flying around with the drone easily yields 8 Gigabytes of data, which means that for the mentioned participant the uploading of the data takes no less than a day and a half. The group that Derk is with is fanatically busy experimenting with the successor of the mobile network 4G, which is called incredibly original 5G. This will probably make it possible to upload and process the data in real-time so that the farmer will get his data back much faster. This group also promotes the use of fiberglass to connect farms better with the rest of the world.

Processed data reduced to a zoning-map. Source: FarmHack.nl.


Export and competitive advantages

The Netherlands is already known among Dutch people as a country full of potato eaters, but the quality of our potatoes is also recognized internationally. With his company, Derk mainly produces seed potatoes that are intended for export. He has a card in his room where his potatoes are shipped to every year. There are large countries on it, including in South America and Central Asia. Smaller countries are also mentioned, such as an island group near Australia. Derk says that improving the quality of our agricultural products has many economic benefits as well as ecological ones.

The growth of potatoes can be even better and a proportional improvement in the yield easily brings in a lot of money. To illustrate this, we make a comparison between potatoes and wheat, both of which see an improvement in the yield of ten per cent. If you increase the yield of a ton of wheat by ten per cent, you will earn around 150 euros. If you have that same improvement on a ton of potatoes, you can easily earn a thousand euros. In addition, yield and quality are related for potatoes, because the yield of a potato plant is caused by the genetic composition of the potato from which the potato plant has grown.

The Netherlands is a market leader in improving potato harvests by making use of precision agriculture, which in turn produces competitive advantages. However, the yield in kilos is not the most important thing. Foreign companies do exceed our revenue due to scaling up whatsoever. For us, it is much more important to focus on differentiation by quality. That makes it possible to earn a higher price for our products in a market of full competition. It is therefore not surprising that mainly our seed potatoes are popular abroad, simply because those potatoes have a higher yield than the seed potatoes of competing countries.

Conclusion

The conclusion of this long story is that precision farming can enormously improve the quality and quantity of the yield of a crop while the crop can be grown in a more sustainable way. Those improvements are needed for us as a country to continue to maintain the market leader in (seed) potatoes and to provide the growing world population with sufficient food. Farmers have now largely accepted the first phase. They use positioning to partly control their machines and can work more accurately that way. Many farmers still have to get used to the second phase. By monitoring the land and crops, it is possible to generate even more profit. Derk Gesink has shown us with his drone that he is one of the first farmers that dare to take that step. The future will show in which other innovative ways farmers will approach this innovation in agriculture.


Big challenges for a small country

When someone talks about 1953, nearly everyone in the Netherlands immediately thinks of one specific major incident that happened that year: the North Sea flood. Since then, many interventions have taken place to prevent such a disaster from happening again. But, is the sea our main and real enemy in the fight against the water, or not?

First of all, what would happen if we did not have any protection against the water
at all? Approximately 60% of the Netherlands is flood-prone. In this area, roughly 70% of the Dutch population is living and 70% of the Dutch GDP is earned, meaning that a flood in this area would have massive economic and humanitarian consequences.

After the flood in 1953, the Delta-commission was created to come up with measures that had to be taken to protect our low-lying country from the sea in the future. The Delta plan was what they invented. According to this plan, multiple dams and storm surge barriers should have been constructed and many sea-dykes should have been raised to increase the safety standards, based on the economic value of the land that it protects. By the closing of some of the Dutch estuaries, the Dutch coastline was limited significantly, which made it easier to strengthen the sea-dykes.

Besides by sea-dykes, dams and storm-surge barriers, the Netherlands is also protected by dunes. The problem with dunes is that they ‘move’ under the influence of erosion. Therefore, the sand that is washed away needs to be replenished by the people, otherwise, the dunes may become too small and because of that start losing some of its strength. One of the solutions for this problem is the creation of the so-called ‘sand engine’. This artificial shoal also loses its sand due to erosion, but this sand is then deposited at another part of the coastline, a bit downstream. Thanks to these kind of inventions, the dunes stay where they are and so they keep the hinterland safe for the threat of the sea. The main guideline in constructing water protection structures is ‘soft measures (sand, dunes) when
possible, hard measures (dams, sea-dykes) when necessary.

However, the threat of flooding is not only coming from the sea, but the rivers in the Netherlands can also be dangerous for the land located behind the dykes. Because of climate change, the extremes in water discharge volume are becoming more extreme. This means that at peak moments, more water needs to be discharged than before. Therefore, measures need to be taken to ensure that in the future all the water still can be discharged and will not rise to extreme heights in the rivers. As a reaction to this prospect, multiple actions took – and are taking – place. A well-known example is the ‘room for the river-project’. This implies that by re-building dykes further from the river, there will be more space for the water to flow when it is needed. Also, highwater gullies were built at some places with the same purpose. These measures have as a result that the people that were living in the areas that now will be inside the dykes need to move or prepare themselves and their possessions to deal with floodings some periods of the year. Furthermore, in 2008, the ‘multi-layered safety approach’ (see featured picture) was launched. As the name says, it consists of three layers. The first one is protection, which is mainly the primary dyke system. Secondly, there is ‘risk-informed sustainable spatial planning’. This means that the effects of flooding should be limited by stopping with building in current flood-prone areas and stopping with creating new risk-zones. The third and last layer is crisis management and emergency response. This involves the coordination between the various emergency services, the authorities and the people in the affected area. Also, water-robust measures like emergency shelters and infrastructure that can withstand a lot of water are constructed.

All in all, the Netherlands is currently well-prepared for the expected sea-level rise and the increase of average and extreme water discharge in the rivers. However, as we move on and climate change may happen faster or will be more extreme than nowadays is expected, future changes to our water protection structures might be necessary.

This Girugten article was first published in GEO PROMOTION MAGAZINE, 23rd of February, 2019.

The risky nature of living in luxury

In today’s world, we are constantly at risk of increasing the negative effects of climate change by trying to live up to modern consumer standards. In addition, the idea of durable living has a bad reputation including uncomfortable compost toilets, cold showers and generally a high financial cost. However, the Earthship might be the solution we seek, because this type of home includes a normal toilet, solar heated water and low-cost construction materials. It combines durable and luxury living in a way that hasn’t been introduced before. As Dr. David Hillson (the risk doctor) explains, there are six questions that should guide a risk management process:

  1. What am I trying to achieve?
  2. What might affect me?
  3. Which of those are important?
  4. What should I do about them?
  5. Did it work?
  6. What changed?

These questions are vital to explain why we might need more of these durable homes in the future. Firstly, we are trying to keep human progress at a steady pace, without neglecting the planet we live on. The thing that might affect this progress is, among other things, climate change, which causes more extreme weather conditions to appear more often. A solution to slowing down climate change until we are better equipped to handle it, without drastically changing our lifestyle, is the Earthship movement.

Earthships were first introduced by the architect Michael Reynolds in the 1970s, who above all wanted to create a home that would be built from local and natural materials, be sustained by natural energy sources and lastly that it could be built by a person without prior construction education or experience. A remarkable feature in these passive solar house are the recycled materials that are used. Instead of re-using products using conventional methods, such as melting plastic to create something new, Reynolds prefers to use the materials as-is. An easy example of this can be found in the thick walls of an Earthship, which characteristically contains glass bottles of different colours, stacked to form interesting patterns.

Traditionally, an Earthship its walls are constructed using rammed tires in the shape of a horseshoe. A greenhouse inside the home provides warmth, humidity and a place to grow vegetables and fruit even inextreme climates. Water is collected from the roof and either filtered in one tank or utilized as grey-water, which after one flushes the toilet or showers is then used to water the plants. The electricity comes from solar panels and wind turbines, as for ventilation, the Earthship uses a natural cross ventilation system, which draws from the cool air underground.

Naturally, there is a dark side to these whimsical ideologies. Earthships are highly susceptible to leaking, if the sun doesn’t come out, the house will be cold, the plants that are able to grow there as of now, are not enough to stay self-sufficient and the
standard build is far from cheap. These disadvantages are critical for people deciding whether or not they want to build an off- the-grid experimental home.Though this movement is inspiring and provides a lot of ideas, the Earthship itself is far from perfect. There is need of a lot of improvement to make this concept work, personally, I would love to see this story have a happy ending.

This Girugten article was first published in the GEO PROMOTION MAGAZINE, 23rd of February, 2019.

Re-understanding planning through justice

On September 12th, Robin Neef and Dr. Barend Wind were invited by the Faculty Association Ibn Battuta to kick off the associations’ extracurricular lecture series. The theme of the evening: When do inequalities become injustices, and what is the role of (Infrastructure and housing) planning in this relation, and how do they mutual relate? They started with diverse theoretical mechanisms behind (in)equality and (in)justice, which were illustrated with day-to-day planning examples to make the abstract theories more tangible. This ended up in an understanding of how contemporary planning practises can result in unequal and, sometimes, unfair situations. Robin Neef (MSc) is a PhD researcher in infrastructure planning and started his PhD research ‘’Responsive Infrastructure through Responsive Institutions’’ in March 2018. Dr. Barend Wind is an assistant professor active in courses on both the bachelor’s- and master’s level. He managed to successfully defend his PhD in 2017 called ‘’Housing Wealth in Europe: Institutions and inequality’’.

In planning practice, Dutch planners are known for their efficient interventions in which two questions are centred: Planning what? and Planning where? However, equally important and often neglected is the question of Planning for whom? And, to illustrate this, Robin used a quite infantile, but very powerful and self-explaining example as seen in figure 1; And because we cannot judge the fish by its ability to climb a tree, planning for whom and taking the aspect of justice into consideration is important. It is clear that the figure mocks with equality. Since the logic of reasoning is not the same for everyone, a certain degree of inequality could be considered fair. However, what type of inequalities do exist in planning, and when do these inequalities become unjust?

‘‘Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.’’

Figure 1: Self-explaining Illustration why we should address the ‘for whom’’ question… Source: lecture presentation. 

Theory

In the lecture, six theoretical approaches to justice are elaborated: utilitarianism, egalitarianism, sufficientarianism, prioritarianism, capability approach, and contractarianism. These principles differ in their distributional mechanisms and/or their position on fairness. Consequently, these principles offer a framework to distinguish unequal from unjust situations. These mechanism will be applied later in the article to illustrations of planning practice. First, an elaboration:

Utilitarianism states that an act is morally right if the total amount of good for all minus the total amount of bad for all has a net plus. In this respect every individual is treated equally. Egalitarianism is about ‘’social primary goods’’, and that people with more of these goods can generally be assured in carrying out their intentions. It is based on Rawls’ theory of Justice that there are a few elements (ranked in a ladder) in which people should be equal. Inequalities in higher rankings, such as wealth, cannot be exchanged for inequalities in lower rankings, like the opportunity to be active in politics, because those are unjust. So, the inequalities in higher rankings should be minimized. Sufficientarianism is about creating minimum threshold for fulfilling everyone’s basic needs and to guarantee their continued wellbeing. Inequalities above this minimum, such as inequalities among those that have enough, are less significant or even completely unimportant as compared to those below.

PhD Researcher Robin Neef. Source: Ibn Battuta. 

The fourth approach focuses on the ‘’worst-off’’ subjects: The worse-off someone is, the more benefits matter to that person. Relevant in this approach is that preferences and voluntarily are neglected, because wellbeing is based on objectivity. Assume you can give 10.000 euros to one of two people; one very affluent and one living in poverty. Prioritarianism then would give PhD Researcher Robin Neef. Source: Ibn Battuta. 13 it to the person in poverty, since he or she is the worst-off person. In contrast to Utilitarianism (first principle), it would not matter because the overall net plus increases the same no matter who gets the amount of money. The capability approach states that every individual should have the same chances in life, such as the opportunity to get your driver’s license, but that some inequality stems from the freedom of individuals to choose and act themselves, like not wanting to drive a car, has to be accepted. The last, contractarianism, judges whether an action is right or wrong on whether it accords with or violates principles that would be the object of an agreement, contracts or choice made under certain conditions by members of the moral community. So, simply the rules you agreed upon. However, you could argue what are rules? Those sentences on a piece of paper or the value-laden idea behind it? A great example of contractarianism in this way is the ‘’offer someone can’t refuse’’ from the godfather.

In the light of housing planning, Dr. Wind adds to this that people have 1) Civil rights 2) Political rights and 3) Social rights. However, the last one is different as it is no individual right, and that it depends on ‘redistribution’ and therewith the conditions in which other people live. An important point is to mention that this ‘redistribution’ comes through government policy and market mechanisms as we will see in the second example.

Contemporary planning practice examples

To give a more practical understanding of the relative abstract concept of justice, I will provide two examples given by both lecturers. The first example is given by Robin Neef who has interviewed liaison officers involved in the A2 area-based infrastructure planning project in Maastricht. The example illustrates how different attitudes towards justice, that different stakeholders might have, result in different spatial-infrastructure configurations. Subsequently, the second example given by dr. Barend Wind relates to housing planning in which redistribution of housing types is criticised and discussed related to justice planning for different kinds of people (based on their socio-economic status) and thereby creating (un)equal or (un) fair opportunities between them.

In Maastricht, an area-based approach was chosen to address deficiencies of traditional, sectoral and line-oriented planning, such as increased public resistance and the shift from government to governance. The four main stakeholders are the Executive arm of the ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, Rijkswaterstaat (RWS), both the National agency and the Regional agency, the province of Limburg and the municipality of Maastricht. The intention here is not to portray actors as blind to certain justice principles. Rather, the spatial and distributional consequences of various justice principles are highlighted by illustrating when certain justice perceptions manifest themselves differently between actors at various moments in the planning process.

Dr. Barend Wind. Source: Ibn Battuta

First, the national RWS appeared to frequently act with a contractarian approach: their task is to primarily uphold infrastructure planning agreements and priorities, such as the National Market and Capacities Analysis (NMCA). For example, infrastructure projects are to increase traffic flow and safety as prioritised by the MIRT rules, they are not granted base on an accessibility minimum. Second, the regional agency revealed prioritarianist concerns, for example when inhabitants could not cope with local infrastructural interventions. Third, the province of Limburg uphold a larger spatial perspective to, among others, the liveability and ongoing accessibility of surrounding villages. Therefore, it may be argued that sufficientarianism is a key concern when emphasising on a certain minimum level. Finally, the municipality of Maastricht portrayed capabilitarian characteristics. A quote by the municipal liaison officer that illustrates this is (loosely translated): it may not be the case that the city is regionally and internationally accessible, but that the local neighbourhoods are inhibited of being constrained by infrastructural developments that land-lock them in. Next, you can see an example of housing (re-)distribution. I will simply explain the example given by Dr. Wind and ask questions related to it. I do not provide you with the right answers (these are probably not even ‘right answers’), but I want you to think about justice and the consequences and potentials related to it.

Assume the following situation. Mr. Bakker has a low income and lives in rental property with energy label D. Mr. Huygens has a high income and is owner of a house with energy label A+, so sparing money on energy consumption. Mr. Huygens also wants to invest his money in a second home and hires it to (someone like) Mr. Bakker. Then, a cash flow between both men is created consisting of monthly rent payment. Next to this, the government wants to improve the general energy label level in their country because of sustainability reasoning. Mr. Huygens will neatly upgrade his second house of which the rent rises. However, Mr. Bakker cannot pay the rent anymore and faces financial troubles and may become homeless. What happened?

Because of the redistribution of 1) the market mechanism (Huygens’ ability to buy a second house) and 2) governmental policy (requiring every house to be more sustainable), Mr. Bakker becomes, in the worst scenario, homeless. Is this justified? Is there no social right to fix this situation somehow? May Mr. Huygens not buy a second house? How about his freedom to invest his money how he wants? Or, should the government not demand every house to become more sustainable in the near future? In this respect, the theory of justice from John Rawls, in which he recommends equal basic rights, equality of opportunity, and promoting the interests of the least advantaged members of society, can provide a solution. Maybe, we (the government) should gain more tax incomes and redistribute these among the less affluent in order to create more equal opportunities. And, thus, maybe the government should act according to the egalitarianism principle? But, is that fair?

Source: Ibn Battuta

Special thanks to Robin Neef and Dr. Barend Wind for their contributions to this article!

This article was first published in Girugten (Year 49 of Girugten – issue 02 – november 2018).

How zodiac signs influence birth rates in Asia

While Western society might seem big on their zodiac system, with horoscopes being published on multiple news outlets every day, the proportion of western society that actually truly believes in them is very small. It is actually Eastern society that is the real fan of their (Chinese) zodiac system. With many true believers in this system, the Chinese zodiac has an effect on birth rates in many Asian countries. This article explains why the Chinese zodiac system has an effect on birth rates and what the consequences of this effect are. The Chinese zodiac system exists out of 12 zodiac signs, in the following order: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. They repeat each other in a cycle of 12 years, every year symbolizes another animal. Each zodiac sign has their own unique characteristics corresponding with the qualities of the animals the signs are named after. In Asian culture some zodiac signs are seen as more favourable than others.

Chinese zodiac wheel. Source: Pinterest
Chinese zodiac wheel. Source: Pinterest

The zodiac sign that is most preferred is the dragon. To understand why, you need to know the story about the heavenly gate race. This story explains how the zodiac came to be. A very long time ago the Jade emperor wanted 12 animals to be his guards. In order to make it in the guard the animals had to get to the heavenly gate, the earlier they were there the higher rank they got. The ranks correspond with the order of the zodiac signs.

The dragon could have easily placed first. As the only mythological creature the dragon has speed and wings. But instead of winning the race, the dragon stopped on his way to the heavenly gate, to bring rain to parched farmland and to help the rabbit across a river. Doing good deeds caused the dragon to came in fifth instead of first. But because of this story the dragon is still seen as the most favourable zodiac sign. It is believed that children born under the dragon sign are honest, sensitive and brave. They are destined to be successful and wealthy.

Parents purposely time their pregnancy in such a way that their baby is born in the Year of the dragon. While this may sound unbelievable, the actual truth of this rings in a spike of national fertility rate in the years of the dragon, in places such as Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. In 2000, one of the recent dragon years, Hong Kong saw a 5% increase in the numbers of babies.

National fertility rates in Hong Kong: with extra attention to the year of the tiger and dragon. Source: Chinaminutes.com
National fertility rates in Hong Kong: with extra attention to the year of the tiger and dragon. Source: Chinaminutes.com

And where here is a spike in the year of the dragon, we actually see a decline in fertility rate in the year of the tiger in countries such as Taiwan and Singapore. It is believed that anyone that is born under this sign does not respect authority and is therefore likely to get in trouble. Especially in Asia where the culture is very collective, this is not a desirable trait. In 2010, the most recent year of the tiger, national fertility rates in Taiwan dropped from 1.03 children per woman to 0.9 children per woman. This was the lowest fertility rate in the world. This drop in fertility rate translates to a drop from 191 310 births in 2009 to 166 886 births in 2010. This means there we are almost 25.000 less babies. Two years later, in the year of the dragon, the fertility rate was brought back up to 1.27, this was higher than it had been all decade. In total 229 481 people were born. The belief in the zodiac system is so rooted in the Taiwan society, that firms even look at people’s zodiac signs when hiring. Being born in the year of the tiger can very likely cost you a job.

These rises and falls in fertility rates based on superstition can have very real life consequences. Schools, hospitals and kindergartens have to deal with the struggle of having way more children in one year and then fewer children in the following year. Children born in the year of the dragon will have to live with a lot of competition their whole life. They will have to compete against more people to get in a good school, and in later age will have more competition when entering the labour market.

In sum, we can agree that these real life consequences of the zodiac signs are not desirable, but it does not look like these effects are going to disappear any time soon. Even when the government of Taiwan offered a lot of subsidy and cash prices to parents who had a child in 2010, the year of the tiger, the fertility rate still dropped immensely. The next year of the dragon is in 2024. Only time will tell if the governments of the Asian countries can create a policy that is effective against these birth rates fluctuation, but seeing how deeply the belief in the zodiac is rooted in the culture, I doubt they will succeed.

This article was first published in Girugten (Year 49 of Girugten – issue 02 – november 2018).

Geo Promotion Conference 2019: Expect the Unexpected

This year, Girugten worked together with the Geo Promotion team to provide the program booklet of the conference with Girugten articles on risk management! Expect them on our website soon. In the meantime, please sit back and enjoy the official Aftermovie of the Geo Promotion Conference of 2019!

For more information (and pictures) of the event, visit this link.

The beach that is too beautiful to visit

This article is also available in Dutch at geografie.nl

Over the last months, a good amount of attention has been given to the negative consequences of mass tourism in the media. A good example of a place where mass tourism has severe negative impacts on the environment is Maya Bay on the island of Koh Phi Phi in Thailand. On the 1st of October 2018, the Thai government decided to close the beach that has been made famous by Leonardo DiCaprio for the 2000 film ‘The Beach’ indefinitely, as you may have noticed from the news. But is this rather radical move the right way to deal with the negative impacts of mass tourism?

A short introduction: the small archipelago of Koh Phi Phi consists of two small islands about 30 kilometres west of Krabi on the Thai mainland in the tropical Andaman Sea. The two biggest islands are Koh Phi Phi Don, the only inhabited island where all tourist facilities are, and Koh Phi Phi Leh, the uninhabited island where Maya Bay is located. Maya Bay is one of the reasons why Koh Phi Phi was until recently one of the most popular destinations in Thailand, if not all of Asia. Its tropical climate, beautiful setting, crystal clear waters, white-sand beaches and its reputation as a party place attracted almost 2 million of people annually to Maya Bay alone, many of them young backpackers. Last December, the author of this article was one of. Although I was strongly disappointed about Koh Phi Phi as a backpacker, this place intrigued me as a geographer: how can a place that small handle that many tourists?

In each travel guide on Thailand and on many Instagram pictures, Maya Bay looks like a pristine, deserted beach on an uninhabited island in paradise. What the pictures that everybody share on social media do not show, however, are the dozens of other people that want to see the beauty of the island and the beach with their own eyes. The noisy motorboats and the damage they do to the coral reefs, which used to be abundant around Koh Phi Phi. Therefore the Thai government announced to close off Koh Phi Phi Leh’s famous Maya Bay for an indefinite period of time from the 1 st of October this year. Scientists say that the reefs and the island’s vegetation need time to recover from the environmental damage those 5000 thousand tourists used to cause every day.

And, what is less well-known and obvious: the island of Koh Phi Phi Don, where all the tourists sleep, eat and party during their visit, is undergoing a dangerously high degree of over-development. Ironically, the tsunami in the Indian Ocean just after Christmas 2004 contributed to create momentum for unlimited and unbridled construction of hastily built, substandard tourist accommodation. Almost every building on the small strip of sand that connects the two rocky hills that make up Koh Phi Phi Don was razed to the ground during this disaster. Consequently, all the infrastructure on the island had to be reconstructed, in an era that Thailand became the fourth largest recipient of tourism money in the world. This is well visible from the Koh Phi Phi Viewpoint; every cultivable square inch of Koh Phi Phi Don is now occupied by hotels, hostels, bungalows, bars and restaurants to cater the steadily
growing inflow of tourists. Before the tsunami, there was a good amount of backpackers on Koh Phi Phi but the big crowds stayed away from the islands due to a lack of western amenities. There used to be no ATM, no internet and no hot water, for example.

A rather shocking comparison of the sandy strip on Koh Phi Phi Don described above seen from roughly the
same point in the late 1990s and on December 15 th , 2017. Sources: Thai government (top), own work (bottom).

You might think it is a good idea to close Koh Phi Phi Leh’s Maya Bay indefinitely and
entirely to recover from the damage done. There is a big downside, however. The over-development of tourism on the island caused a strong dependence on the tourists’ money. There is a significant risk that tourists will now opt for skipping Koh Phi Phi and start colonizing another paradise-like island instead. Developments on some other Thai islands show that it works like that: social influencers continue to hype the Thai islands as a perfect holiday destination (and generally for good reason), and that is why one starts to see the same symptoms of over-development on nearby islands like Koh Lanta, Koh Muk and Koh Lipe. And, maybe even more important, what about the local population? Unemployment, bankruptcy of businesses and an overall economic downturn are luring for Koh Phi Phi. In the worst case, the local population might opt for fishing in the protected coral reefs again. With all the consequences this entails: reef destruction, pollution and a loss of biodiversity.

No, there are other options in my opinion. While visiting Koh Phi Phi Leh was never entirely free, it surely wasn’t expensive to visit the Paradise on Earth. For the equivalent of a mere €15 you could participate in an all-inclusive boat tour to Maya Bay, including the national park fee, a drink, some snacks and snorkel rental. There is room for improvement there: the money from increased entrance fees could be used for redevelopment of both the islands and a more controlled movement of tourists, which might change the profile of Koh Phi Phi to a high-end and exclusive destination that is able to make a living out of tourism while having lower amounts of tourists and their impact. Isn’t it a wiser and more inclusive solution to regulate and raise entrance fees rather than to close the island entirely and leaving the local population with nothing?

This article was first published in Girugten (Year 49 of Girugten – issue 02 – november 2018).

Herta Macht Thesis Prize 2019

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Important message from the faculty:

In 2019, the Herta Macht Thesis Prize will be awarded for the last time by the
Faculty of Spatial Sciences of the University of Groningen to stimulate excellent and innovative research.

The prize, comprising a sum of € 1,000 and a memento, will be awarded in
Groningen on 27 June 2019.


The winner of 2018 is Edward Bolton of University of Amsterdam with his thesis:
“The Constructed Resource; Actor-Network Theory & The Estonian Energy Assemblage”.


The Thesis Prize aims to recognize young talent in the Spatial Sciences and to
promote the cultural aspects and social relevance of the Spatial Sciences.
Participation is open to all master students in the Netherlands. A master thesis
qualifies if it is no more than two years old and has been awarded a mark of 8
or more.


Look for more information, registration and the regulations at:
http://www.rug.nl/frw/organization/lezingen-symposia/scriptieprijs/

Register


Please fill out the form on the website, save it and mail it as an enclosure to:
secr.cg-eg@rug.nl.


The deadline for submitting the theses is Tuesday 12 March 2019.

Drone Archaeology in the Netherlands: A sun-soil time machine

As you might have noticed, we experienced a parched summer, and although most news agencies have elaborately covered the many negative effects, some also reported an interesting side-effect of the drought; somewhere in the Netherlands, a farmer spotted color differences in his fields that indicated where former ditches had been in the past. More interestingly, the shape of a medieval castle was visible in the grass near Noordlaren, a small town close to Groningen. Quickly after one of the first of these news items surfaced and was shared with me, I decided to do some drone archaeology myself. 

Now, out of personal interest, I had already done some research about the history of the area in which I grew up (Peebos, Doezum), so I knew that a house had once stood in the meadow next to my parents’ house. This house was completely leveled roughly half a century ago, and I wondered whether any pattern at all would still be discernible from the sky. So, without having too high expectations, I launched my drone into the air, flew it over the tree line that separates my parents’ plot of land and the meadow of interest, and glanced at my tablet for the live feed from the drone camera. Below a picture of what I saw.

An example of the features that drone archaeology can uncover: clear drawings in the grass that indicate the location of what still used to be a house somewhere around the 1950's in Peebos (Doezum) the Netherlands. The colour of the lines suggest that the foundation is still present in the subsoil.
Location of a former dwelling in Peebos. Source: Own work.

Conditions for drone archaeology

So, where did this first ‘drone archaeology’ experience leave me? For one thing, I found out the exact location of a house that has been gone for quite some time. I also got the impression that the people who broke it down did not bother too much with removing its foundations from the soil. I suspect this because, as you might have noticed when looking at the picture, there are some clear and straight human-made lines visible in the grass, which have a color that is indicative of what you could call suboptimal plant health. This deficient plant health usually manifests itself when something like the remains of stone foundations lie buried in the soil. Of course, when materials as such are blocking the way, plant roots cannot optimally reach nutrient rich soil and water.

Another example of the features that drone archaeology can uncover. Again: (really) clear drawings in the grass that indicate the location of what used to be a building in Peebos (Doezum) the Netherlands. Also in this case, the colour of the lines suggest that the foundation is still present in the subsoil.
Clear lines indicating a former dwelling near Peebos. Source: Own work

But, if lines or forms like these are greener than the surrounding vegetation — and the concerning plants are thus healthier than the plants in their environment — it usually means that somewhere in time, something like a ditch or other depression was present. When such a low terrain feature has filled up with sediments, the resulting soil can often hold moisture better and is sometimes more fertile. Plant roots can usually grow better in this kind of earth as well.

An example of the features that drone archaeology can uncover: clear lines in a cornfield (Peebos, Doezum) that indicate former ditches and former plot boundaries. The relatively yellow (thus unhealthy) corn plants mark the line along which big oak trees used to stand until a few years ago. A couple of areas with a difference in soil composition and thus a difference in fertility are easily recognizable.
Clear lines indicating former ditches in a field of corn in Peebos. Source: Own work.

In short, local differences in soil composition can become visible through differences in plant health and these differences are amplified when plants are having a hard time, such as was the case during the dry period of last summer. Contrariwise, precipitation can also be an indicator; former ditches were visible on drone pictures that I made of snowy fields last winter. In such conditions, local differences in the ability of soil to hold heat cause some snow to melt away faster, but differences in height can also be a factor here. Anyway, my interest was sparked, and I decided to carry on collecting data.

The collection process

In the somewhat limited time that I had this summer, I was able to capture about 5000 drone photos of dry Dutch landscapes. These include all the images required to make a few detailed drone maps of the area around the ‘river’ the Lauwers (the border between Groningen and Friesland) in and near Peebos, and some more random aerial photographs at a few other places, most of them on indication of dr. ir. Erik Meijles. The drone maps, of which an interactive web map can be studied below, were produced by letting the drone autonomously fly over a preselected area. In this process, the drone will take photos at a specified interval and fixed altitude. These photos can later be stitched together with photogrammetry software that creates the actual drone maps and can output large image files with geolocations, which are effortlessly imported in GIS-software.

Drone maps of Peebos (Doezum) and environment. Source: Own work.

Special thanks to the Geodienst, that made the interactive publication of the drone imagery on our website possible. The Geodienst offers free support with GIS analysis, grant applications and making maps. Contact the Geodienst at geodienst@rug.nl

Note: This web service is interactive, which means you can zoom around, turn layers on and off and select different basemaps, for example. Give it a go and try some amateur drone archaeology and historical landscape research yourself! To make things a little easier, Girugten has also pre-selected some interesting features as well.

Findings

In total, I found six figures in and around Peebos that indicate the former presence of buildings, all of which I could later confirm. Finding evident marks in the soil at places where these dwellings had once stood was the rule, not the exception. In these cases, the drone pictures do not add to the knowledge about the general location of these former dwellings, as those locations have been well documented in the Netherlands for about 200 years now, but for me at least, the photographs do enhance the historical experience. In addition to these vanished buildings, a significant number of filled-in ditches were visible in a lot of the meadows and corn fields that I mapped, giving an excellent insight into former plot boundaries and the cultural (reclamation) history of the area in general. You can track these results down yourself in the map above.

In addition to human-made traces, some of the earth’s natural processes also leave their marks, and I was able to capture a few interesting ones on camera. Directly to the southeast of the gas extraction site between Zuidhorn and Faan for example, a relic from the last ice age was visible. What you see on the picture below is almost certainly what is called a pingo ruin, which is what remains of a collapsed small hill formed by water and ice. Erik Meijles hinted this one, and I might have captured a few possible pingo ruins around Peebos as well.

Drone archaeology can also visualize the history of the natural landcape of areas! In this picture a pingo ruin is clearly visible across multiple fields. In the bottom left of the pingo ruins' edges, a few potentially interesting (or at least deviant) shapes are visible. The picture was taken directly south of the N980 between Niekerk and Zuidhorn.
Pingo ruin directly south of the N980 between Niekerk and Zuidhorn. Also notice the little hexagon-like shapes on the edge of the pingo ruin in the field on the bottom left corner of the picture. Do you know what caused them? We don’t. Source: Own work.

Mysterious shapes

While reviewing a series of images directly after one of the flights this summer, I noticed a lot of human-made lines that belonged to one meadow. Not being able to stitch those images together directly, I flew the drone over to that meadow again and took a picture from a bit higher altitude to see if and how the lines were connected. There it was, quite a large and square-like figure in the middle of the field, with some more lines all over the place, and some of those seemingly connecting to the shape in the middle. The image below is a cutout of the high resolution stitched pictures from the first flight job. Notice that the orientation of the main square-figure is not perpendicular to the borders of the field. Also notice that the lines are greener than the surrounding grass, so it is not likely that something impenetrable is hidden just below the surface.

A true discovery in drone archeology! Visible is a square like figure with three lengthy arms. No one knows what the figure caused yet, so it could be very unimportant, but the figure can not be explained from any (relatively) easy obtainable records. Aliens?
Figure of uknown origin in Peebos. What could it be? Source: Own work.

So, what is the origin of this figure? I had no straightforward answer, but there are multiple possibilities. One of the first things that came to my mind was the possibility of dug in cables or pipes, but that did not seem logical. Why would those be placed in such a formation with sharp 90-degree corners? To be sure, I requested information from the Dutch Cadastre, which reported that — to the best of their knowledge — there are no pipes or cables from any provider at any place on the lot. Maybe a modern water drainage system is hidden below the surface then? Well, the field is located on relatively high grounds, and that is why I am unsure about its need for water drainage. Moreover, the layout of the lines does not seem logical for water drainage purposes. Having pretty much eliminated these options and myself, and others — including the current owner of the plot — having no good alternative explanations, I got puzzled and engaged in some explorative desk research.

Into the realm of amateur-historical landscape research

It is good to understand that my family needs to travel past the field of interest to reach my parent’s home ever since we moved there in 2000. So, whatever could have been done to the plot between then and now, we will most probably know of it. The lot was grassland when we moved over and had stayed grassland up until it was ploughed over by the current owner and transformed into a cornfield a few years ago. It continued serving as a cornfield for one or two years and was then converted to grassland again. I looked at as many satellite images and aerial pictures I could find from 2000 onwards and could not see any clues about the origin of the figure there either. Just more grass. Therefore, unless I missed something, I think it is likely the shape originates from before 2000.

Moving on, I compared the first usable height model of the Netherlands with height data from Q1 2008 (AHN2) and the successor with data from Q1 2014, the AHN3. The AHN3 shows a very equalized surface, consistent with the surface one would expect to be the result of modern ploughing/equalizing machines. This explains the recent ‘‘grass-corn-grass’’ transformation of the field. The AHN2 model shows a lot more relief: most of the lines that are visible near the edges of the drone picture look like the remnants of old ditches in this height model. Consequently, I hypothesized that the lot had to have been divided into smaller areas somewhere in the past. Not surprisingly, this is in line with aerial pictures from WWII onwards. Although the borders of the plot have always stayed the same, the interior was at different times, and in various configurations split up by ditches, appearing to be serving as borders between different agricultural production areas.

With the height data and old aerial pictures in mind, I was able to isolate the figure in the center of the field. Its origin does not seem to be shared with that of the rest of the lines. Interestingly, the center figure was not recognizable in either of the two AHN datasets. If there ever was any height difference concerning this figure, it was gone by the time 2008 arrived. Moving further back in time, the very first topographic maps from the beginning of the 19th century show the field as being part of a forest, but the edges are the same every time, they have not changed since the early 1800’s. This makes the orientation of the shape in relation to the borders of the field interesting, because it looks like it has nothing in particular to do with the current boundaries. While this is likely to mean nothing, it does not lower the chance that the shape originates from before the beginning of the 19th century as well.

So, what then is the origin of the figure?

All in all, apart from gathering a few clues, I am probably not yet close to an answer. Could the figure show a courtyard that once was a part of the forest? I do not know. Might the place be a forgotten graveyard? Well, the history of the area might allow such a possibility, and the shape literally resembles some current cemetery layouts in the region, but again: I do not know. There are many more possible explanations, but I have not found one that satisfied me. Of course, there is always also the possibility that the figure is relatively recent, or of such unimportant origin that it is not common knowledge. Anyhow, I have not yet exhausted all research options and will continue my search for answers, but if you recognize the figure or have any information, ideas, questions or comments: please let it know in the comments below or contact us!

To conclude

In any event, these and other archeological findings during last summer’s drought are illustrative for that fact that landscapes change, maybe more so than we realize. In this light you could state that these houses, castles, ditches, pingos and other ‘former’ landscape features have lost their struggle against time, they are not part of the landscape anymore. And you would be right; while standing at their former locations, you would probably not notice they ever existed. However, hidden from our senses, their footprints are still there, scarring the soil and patiently waiting for the right circumstances that will inevitably reveal them again.

Make sure to check out the interactive web service with the drone maps here if you haven’t done so already!

Special thanks to everyone who helped and contributed!

This article was first published in Girugten (Year 49 of Girugten – issue 02 – november 2018).

Meet the world of EGEA!

Lovers of travel, you might want to tune in on this. Maybe you already heard of EGEA before. EGEA stands for European Geography Association and is the biggest network of geography students and geographers in over 90 cities in over 30 European countries. Did you know that Groningen has its own EGEA entity as well?

With countless events abroad, such as short exchange trips, interesting scientific seminars and big congresses, EGEA provides many opportunities for prospective geographers to create a new international network of students with the same interests. Another important benefit is that is all comes with low costs forgeographers with a student budget!

The biggest events EGEA organizes are the well visited congresses. Every year there are three congress: the Western Regional Congress, the Eastern Regional Congress, and the Annual Congress. The latter is the most important one and the biggest EGEA event of the year. This year, Tim Jansen and I travelled to Selce Croatia, for the Annual Congress of 2018, which was organized by the EGEA entity of Zagreb. This week was full of excursions, trainings, lectures, workshops and more. And did I mention the daily swims into the Adriatic? To give you an impression of what is was like to attend such a week, Girugten gives you a sneak peek in what it is to attend such a congress.

Opening ceremony in Rijeka. Source: EGEA.

The grand kickoff was at the University of Rijeka. About 300 students were welcomed at the campus, where the registration and the grand opening ceremony were held by the rector and the Board of EGEA. Afterwards students went to Selce, where the actual congress took place. After a tiring trip, everybody had the opportunity toc get a little rest, take a look around or stroll to the beach. Yes, this year we were blessed with a nice location right next to the sea! To make sure all new participants were introduced to the European network, a so called Newbee Area was set up, where all new members got introduced to all important aspects of the Association.

Cultural Fair. Source: EGEA.

This is a good way to get an impression of such a big network and all the opportunities it offers you. You can join committees, organize events, organize exchanges and more, all on an international level. Just as every evening, the first evening was full of interesting activities. We had the EGEAN Fair, where you could visit all of Croatia’s Five Regions and got to taste delicacies of each one. This basically meant you could take a stroll along five large tables with all kinds of delicious regional beers, wines and foods.

After the first introduction day, the first workshop tracks started off. Since this year’s congress theme was ‘Realize Rural, Understand it and make it happen’, most of all activities were focused on “the rural”. Each group of students worked their own case to eventually be able to present their findings on the fifth day, during the presentations. Workshops like understanding the rural and urban continuum contained the essence of finding ways to get rural and urban aspects together in a responsible and sustainable way. Even workshops where with the help of a GIS, students worked on finding solutions on rural problems such as population decline. The second day ended with the big European cultural fair, where all nationalities had their own market stand full of products of their regions. While walking along all tables, you got to taste the culture of about 20 European nations. The Netherlands were represented by the entities of Nijmegen, Utrecht, Amsterdam and of course Groningen. We filled our table with Dutch delicacies such as Jenever, stroopwafels and Groninger sausage. To conclude: the cultural fair is an excellent and fun way to get in contact with the cultures of Europe!

Excursion to Vinodol. Source: EGEA

Besides workshops and interesting lectures, there was room for one-day excursions with some beautiful destinations. Trips were organized to the beautiful Gorski Kotar region, Krka national park, the Plitvice Lakes and more. During the work- shops, students got in contact with local community programs that worked on problems as population decline and improve- ment of the natural resources. It was for instance quite interesting to see how locals try to improve their exploitation of the local forestry by investing in local companies that are dependent on the natural resources.

Congress beach. Source: EGEA.

During the Scientific Fair, some students presented their own extensive researches and work. Interesting approaches on problem solving on a rural level were discussed at the grand debate. Some of us took the opportunity to debate about the application of artificial intelligence for rural problems.

The General Assemblies

So, how does the biggest European Geography Association exist? Each year, EGEA is led by a new board, existing of five young and enthusiastic geographers from all over Europe. They make sure that all the committees work effectively and check if all city entities organize enough activities, the board organizes the General Assembly, where the representatives from the entities can join and vote about all kinds of important decisions that make sure the policies are up to date. You could compare EGEA to the EU a little bit, with its structure of Committees and regional teams working together to connect and organize all entities over Europe. Since EGEA is so big, a General Assembly is quite a happening. To be able to work through the whole agenda, the Assembly was actually divided over three sessions through the week. At the end of the last session, the most important part took place, namely the appointment of the new board! A new chairman, vice chairman, treasurer, event & PR advisor and secretary were appointed. They will have their seats until next year’s Annual Congress.


Are you interested in getting to know more about this network of geography students and alumni? Do you want to know what EGEA in Groningen has to offer you? Via EGEA Groningen, all students at the Faculty of Spatial Sciences get the opportunity to join a wide range of interesting and fun events on an international level. EGEA is an excellent opportunity to expand your network abroad and to broaden your horizon!

Voting at the General Members Assembly. Source: EGEA.

This article was first published in Girugten (Year 49 of Girugten – issue 02 – november 2018).