Farmers’ action group Agractie is calling on the Dutch to stop working for 15 minutes next Friday afternoon in order to show their ‘solidarity with the farmer’. This should be done at three o’clock. If it were up to the Farmers Defense Force counterpart, the church bells or fire sirens would be allowed to ring for fifteen minutes.
The organization has a campaign website made with several other suggestions. These range from ‘take a selfie with a farmer’s handkerchief’ to ‘hang an inverted Dutch flag at half mast’.
Agractie speaks of a ‘desperation offensive by farmers who are fighting for their right to exist’. Farmers have been campaigning for weeks against the government’s nitrogen policy, which they believe will hit companies hard.
‘Show your solidarity and hear’
“The Netherlands is on fire,” says Bart Kemp, chairman of Agractie Nederland. That is why the action group is calling for a fifteen-minute standstill. “Show and hear your solidarity.”
The cabinet wants to strongly reduce the amount of ammonia and nitrogen oxides that end up in nature in the coming years. Minister Christianne van der Wal (Nature and Nitrogen) recently announced the targets for the countryside, which will probably have major consequences for livestock farming. Measures for other sectors, such as traffic and industry, have not yet been drawn up. The cabinet says it will come up with this at the beginning of next year.
‘Sacrificed for other interests’
“We are being sacrificed for the interests of industry, construction and aviation,” is one of Agractie’s complaints. The organization calls the nitrogen standards of the cabinet unfeasible. The affiliated farmers also do not feel heard by The Hague.
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