Prague to lease 400 hectares to bio farmers, create green bands between plots

Prague City Hall is offering leases on some 400 hectares of agricultural land to ecological farm projects in a bid to replace tenants using chemical insecticides and fertilizers, Hospodářské noviny reports.

Deputy Mayor Petr Hlubuček said Prague wants to divide large fields into areas with a maximum area of five hectares with so-called green bands between them, and to have better biodiversity and water management.

Hospodářské noviny, which has seen the bids, reports that the bulk of the plots went to the highest bidder Median, a market research agency that owns the Zelený Dvůr bio farm. The contracts have yet to be approved by city councillors.