Farmers’ action group Agractie left consultations on the agricultural agreement on Thursday. Political reporter Leendert Beekman calls the departure ‘unreasonable’. Foreman Bart Kemp rebuts: ‘we are at a stalemate about the most important point of the agreement’.
‘Farmers are crushed in this plan,’ said Agractie foreman Bart Kemp immediately after he had left the talks in Ermelo. ‘Permanent restrictions are imposed on land use, without a revenue model in return.’ The action club is considering participating again in the consultation ‘if guidelines are made about land policy’.
It concerns the government’s intention to convert approximately 180,000 hectares of agricultural land into nature or landscape land. According to reporter Beekman, Agractie absolutely does not want that to happen. “And they wanted a commitment on that today.”
But according to Beekman, Agractie wants to go too fast. ‘You sit around the table with various parties: farmers, nature managers, the province and the minister. You start the conversation about the future of agriculture in the Netherlands. This should result in a total picture in the long term. If you now hammer on one aspect and want an answer to it today, you can get angry and walk away. But then that is an unreasonable step.’
Making a distinction with the nitrogen debate
According to Beekman, Kemp also mixes things up. ‘You do have to make a distinction between the nitrogen debate and the agricultural agreement. Now it concerns the agricultural agreement of Piet Adema, Minister of Agriculture. It is about the perspective of agriculture in the Netherlands. When farmers’ organizations demand that 2030 be removed from the nitrogen law, they have come to the wrong place at Adema. For that they have to knock on the door of Nitrogen Minister Christianne van der Wal.’
‘You do have to make a distinction between the nitrogen debate and the agricultural agreement. Now it concerns the agricultural agreement of Piet Adema, Minister of Agriculture’
During a response to BNR later in the evening, Kemp says he does not understand Leendert’s remark. ‘We have been discussing land policy for more than three months and this is an important point for all farmers in the Netherlands. We sent the minister a letter about this last week,” said the Agractie foreman. ‘If you can’t find a solution at such a crucial moment, the limit has been reached at some point. And we’re fed up with that.’
Agriculture Minister Adema regrets the move by Agractie. He says talks are not over. He would like to see the farmers’ action group back at the negotiating table.
