With the failure of the Agricultural Agreement, the laborious attempt at rapprochement between the government and farmers has come to an abrupt halt. The cabinet will consider its own plan for making the sector more sustainable until 2040. The largest agricultural organization in the Netherlands, LTO, has temporarily sidelined itself as a breaking party in political The Hague.
These are some of the conclusions now that the months-long negotiations on the Agricultural Agreement have officially ended on Tuesday. “A particularly sad day for the agricultural sector, for nature, for the young farmers,” said Agriculture Minister Piet Adema (ChristenUnie) against the collected media.
For the cabinet, the break with ‘moderate’ consultation partner LTO (35,000 members) came as a complete surprise. After a crisis meeting with Prime Minister Rutte and five ministers, LTO chairman Sjaak van der Tak spoke of “crucial steps” last week. Rutte himself confirmed that there was a breakthrough during his weekly press conference.
But on Tuesday night things turned out differently. The cabinet was prepared to make concessions on eight tricky points for LTO. For example, about making space for farmers themselves more sustainable, money for innovation, a maximum number of cattle per hectare, protection of agricultural land. The state lawyer looked into the legalization of ‘PAS reporters’, farmers who were allowed to work without a nature permit until 2019.
Until just before the follow-up meeting at 8 p.m., LTO did not know which solutions the cabinet had worked out. Two civil servants then visited the agricultural and horticultural organization to provide an explanation in advance. For the LTO board, which actually wanted to stop a week earlier, it was not enough.
Twenty minutes late, the LTO board arrived at the Ministry of Agriculture a little further on. Van der Tak’s message was direct: we are stopping. Without substantive consultation? Minister Adema reacted angrily. In any case, wait until Thursday, he asked the LTO board, when Prime Minister Rutte would be back from Africa.
The LTO board then retreated for a while, but the painful message remained the same. We have made a “tough and difficult decision”, Van der Tak came to tell the assembled press in the hall more than two hours later. In somewhat vague terms he spoke about a lack of prospects for farmers and a lack of confidence in politics and administration.
‘Kind of grief processing’
Other negotiating parties reacted disillusioned on Wednesday after a final meeting in Villa Ockenburgh in The Hague. “A kind of collective mourning process”, director Hank Bartelink of umbrella organization LandschappenNL called this last meeting. “Actually, we all sat at the table with losers.”
More should be known about the debacle in the coming days. Agriculture agreement chairman Chris Kalden will draw up a final report with recommendations. At the request of the House of Representatives, the latest version of the draft texts will also be published, plus calculations of the content. Next week, the House will debate the collapse of the negotiations.
Read alsoThe government is gaining time, but it is also making difficult promises regarding the Agricultural Agreement
The consultations on the Agricultural Agreement, which started in December, were not a very promising mission beforehand. The consultation was supposed to bring social peace after a summer of wild farmers’ protest about the infamous ‘nitrogen card’ of minister Christianne Van der Wal (VVD). Nitrogen mediator Johan Remkes advised the cabinet to conclude an ‘Agricultural Agreement’, and the tractors and hay bales disappeared from the highways again.
The inverted flags also disappeared when the BoerBurgerBeweging became the big winner in the Provincial Council elections in March.
Different dynamics after BBB profit
Only, the emergence of BBB changed the dynamics surrounding the Agricultural Agreement. With BBB in power in provinces, and who knows, soon in The Hague, farmers feel strengthened. The cabinet was in a hurry to get out, LTO had plenty of time to negotiate.
In design and content, the negotiations were extremely complex. Firstly, a total of about fifty parties were involved, the ‘main table’ of which was formed by the agricultural sector, nature organisations, provinces and the business community. There was much more to the farmers than just the sensitive nitrogen measures: climate policy, a stricter manure regime, and binding rules for water and soil quality.
At the head was Adema, a new, inexperienced minister. He succeeded his resigned party colleague Henk Staghouwer in October last year. Adema had to conduct the difficult conversations, but did not have a full political mandate. Every week he had to go back to the Council of Ministers to ask how far he could go with concessions and how much money the cabinet wanted to allocate. Regularly Adema was whistled back.
Read alsoThe position of the CDA has weakened further, doubts about the party leadership are increasing
Adema, as agriculture minister, therefore had to make a deal, while his colleagues in the cabinet deal with part of the content and have the money at their disposal. For example, Minister Mark Harbers (VVD) is responsible for water quality, Rob Jetten (D66) for CO2reduction and Christianne van der Wal about reducing nitrogen emissions – although nitrogen is officially outside the agreement.
Whether agriculture was well represented also aroused discussion. LTO Nederland is the largest agricultural sector association, but many angry farmers do not feel at home with this ‘moderate’ party. Agractie withdrew from the negotiations in March, the Dutch Dairy Farmers Union a month later. Farmers Defense Force refused to come to the table at all. In addition to LTO, only Biohuis and the NAJK for young farmers eventually participated.
Revenue model
At LTO itself, especially in the South and North departments, there was a fear that a negotiation agreement could lead to members walking away, or mutual division. Chairman Van der Tak was under increasing pressure from various departments, thinking involved. A “ridiculous gossip stream”, LTO responded with a statement last week. The various LTO organizations are said to be ‘completely united’.
The earning model of farmers in the future will also remain a difficult issue. Sustainable products are more expensive, so who will pay for the difference? The cabinet certainly wants to help farmers along the way, but the dairy industry, animal feed producers and supermarkets, for example, are also being asked to contribute. Adema has been able to get money out mainly in bilateral consultations, but with the collapse of the Agricultural Agreement everything is uncertain again. Marc Jansen, director of the Central Bureau of Food Trade, told the media on Wednesday that the supermarkets continue to work on a good revenue model for farmers in the agricultural reform. “We will stand for that.”
Minister Adema sounded depressed on Wednesday, but also determined. The negotiation agreement was 95 percent complete, but LTO should not think that it will now be implemented, he said. The government’s own plan for farmers will therefore not be as good as this one. “The entire agricultural sector is worse off because LTO has been left off the table.”
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of June 22, 2023.