Today and tomorrow there will be consultations about the Agricultural Agreement. Farmers’ organizations want the result of that agreement to do justice to last week’s election results, when BBB achieved a huge victory in the elections for the Provincial Council. Bart Kemp, Agractie’s foreman, attended the meeting today. “I feel that our points have largely fallen our way today,” he says News hour.
Various groups threatened to withdraw from the Agricultural Agreement if their demands, which had meanwhile increased, were not met. According to Kemp, the new provincial authorities will not want to implement the plans of the coalition. “We feel supported in that.”
LTO Netherlands also believes that the signal that society has sent out during the Provincial Council elections cannot be ignored. “It necessitates adjustments to the nitrogen policy,” said chairman Sjaak van der Tak. But the organization does not want to comment on today’s talks because of “agreed confidentiality”.
So far, The Hague has been struggling with that election result and with the nitrogen approach. BBB calls the Agricultural Agreement too one-sided with too little perspective for farmers. Agriculture minister Piet Adema wants an agreement to be reached by the end of April, but BBB fears that the agreement will be concluded too hastily.
Landscape soil
A big point for Agractie is clarity about what happens to the landscape land, an intermediate form of nature and agricultural land. The cabinet wants to convert some 180,000 hectares of agricultural land into new nature or a kind of combination of agriculture and nature. Farmers’ organizations fear that too much agricultural land will go to nature in the coming years. “It seems that this point is completely off the table,” says Kemp.
A survey previously showed that Agractie’s supporters believe that agricultural land should be protected. “This topic is so important, we are not going to make concessions. We are not going to sacrifice these areas. Then we draw our conclusions and step up,” says Kemp.
Like Agractie and part of the House of Representatives, LTO Netherlands opposes compulsory purchase or expropriation of farmers and wants entrepreneurs to be charged for permits on the basis of their actual, measurable nitrogen emissions.
Farmers increased
According to Kemp, things also seem to be moving in the right direction for farmers with the objections to the critical deposition value (KDV). Farmers want it removed from the law. The CDW is the amount of nitrogen per hectare above which nature is expected to deteriorate. The CDW has been scientifically determined for each type of nature: the more nitrogen-sensitive the nature, the lower the value. Kemp: “We really want to get rid of that. That now also seems to be moving in the right direction. It is gaining momentum,” says Kemp.
When asked, Minister of Agriculture Piet Adema said that farmers have indeed increased their efforts. “Anyway, we talk to each other. It’s really about perspective for the farmers, for the agricultural sector.” Adema is confident that the talks will continue. “Because it is of the utmost importance that we reach a good Agricultural Agreement with all agricultural parties. It is also an opportunity for those parties themselves to help shape their own future.”
