If you look closely around Fehmarn, you can see long rows of soil mounds, planted with grass and other plants. To the uninitiated, these rows and mounds might look like oversized rows of potatoes or asparagus beds. However, in reality, it’s Germany’s most fertile topsoil waiting for the construction work to finish, so it can once again be used for food production.
Germany’s best soil recycled
As part of the Fehmarn project, many kilometers of new railway and motorway are to be established across the North German island of Fehmarn. This also means that a lot of topsoil must be removed in connection with the construction work. But when it comes to Germany’s best agricultural soil, it shouldn’t be used for backfilling or taken to landfill. Instead, it is stored in long mounds, so it can be spread out again and contribute to the food production in the North German breadbasket.
– The soil on Fehmarn is among the best in all of Germany and therefore deserves extra protection. On the construction site in Germany, great importance is placed on taking care of the precious topsoil. People talk about ‘Fehmarn’s black soil,’ which is a very clay-rich, nutrient-rich soil with a good ability to retain water, explains Denise Juchem, press officer for Femern A/S in Germany.
340,000 cubic meters carefully measured
In total, 340,000 cubic meters of fertile topsoil have been deposited in this way. And these are not random piles of soil. The German Soil Protection Act requires that the soil must be removed before construction starts and stored in a special way in the meantime. And this is where the “asparagus beds” come into the picture.
The soil depots can be up to two meters high, and they are made with sides as steep as possible to avoid water accumulation. A layer of local grasses and herbs, carefully selected, protects the topsoil against weather and wind.
Getting the same soil back
The farmers on Fehmarn will not just get back the amount of soil they temporarily gave up in connection with the tunnel project. They will also get back exactly the same soil:
– We have carefully mapped where each soil pile is located. This ensures that when the construction is finished, each farmer can get their own soil back, explains Denise Juchem.
