The Netherlands Feeds the World

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Frank Viviano (text) and Luca Locatelli (photography), A Tiny Country Feeds the World; Agricultural giant Holland is changing the way we farm. National Geographic, September 2017.
http://www.nationalgeographic.co ... ustainable-farming/

Note:
(a) The print and online versions are identical.
(b) photo caption: "A sea of greenhouses surrounds a farmer's home in the Westland region of the Netherlands."

Westland (region), Netherlands
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westland_(region),_Netherlands
(includes municipality of Westland; greenhouses)

(c) "The Netherlands is a small, densely populated country, with more than 1,300 inhabitants per square mile. It's bereft of almost every resource long thought to be necessary for large-scale agriculture. Yet it's the globe's number two exporter of food as measured by value, second only to the United States * * * More than half the nation’s land area is used for agriculture and horticulture."

from the table in respective pages in en.wikipedia.org:
(i) Netherlands (Area: • Total  41,543 km2 (16,040 sq mi) (131st), • Water (%)  18.41; Population  • 2017 estimate 17,116,281, • Density 413.1/km2 (1,069.9/sq mi) (31st) )

For "Water  (%)  18.41," see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands
(a map whose caption reads: "A relief map of the Netherlands")
(ii) Taiwan (Area: Total 36,197 km2 (13,976 sq mi); Population Density: 650/km2 (1,683.5/sq mi) (17th) )

(d) "Banks of what appear to be gargantuan mirrors [alluding to greenhouses; 'mirror' is a noun, not verb] stretch across the countryside * * * [The Netherlands is] a global leader in exports [but NOT production -- see graphic] of * * * tomato. The Dutch are also the world's top exporter of potatoes and onions and the second largest exporter of vegetables overall in terms of value. * * * The brain trust behind these astounding numbers is centered at Wageningen University & Research (WUR), located 50 miles southeast of Amsterdam. * * * 'Water isn't the fundamental problem. It's poor soil,' he [Ernst van den Ende, managing director of WUR's Plant Sciences Group] says."

Wageningen University and Research Centre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wa ... and_Research_Centre
(1876- ; public; at municipality of Wageningen)
(e) "The growing environment [in Dutch greenhouses] is kept at optimal temperatures year-round by heat generated from geothermal aquifers that simmer under at least half of the Netherlands. * * * a ravenous army of defenders such as the fierce Phytoseiulus persimilis, a predatory mite that shows no interest in tomatoes but gorges itself on hundreds of destructive spider mites. * * * Dutch firms are among the world leaders in the seed business, with close to $1.7 billion worth of exports in 2016. Yet they market no GMO products. * ** open fields, where crops are more subject to pests and drought"

Phytoseiulus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytoseiulus
(f) Singular or Plural. The Economist, undated
http://economist.com/style-guide/singular-or-plural
("a country [takes a singular verb], even if its name looks plural. Thus The Philippines has a congressional system, as does the United States; the Netherlands does not. The United Nations is also singular")