Linda Versteeg’s farm is located one road and a few meadows from the border between Utrecht and Gelderland, just over a watercourse and a clog path. She has 135 dairy cows and 1,300 fattening pigs. She was once a dietitian, married a farmer and went to work on his parents’ farm. She could never have foreseen that her future – she lives on the Utrecht side – would be so different from that of farmers a few hundred meters away, just across the Gelderland border.
Versteeg lives with her family in the Binnenveld, roughly in the square Veenendaal–Ede–Wageningen–Rhenen. Two provinces, four municipalities, the Foodvalley partnership, two protected nature reserves and a new nature reserve come together here. NRC previously called the area “the Netherlands in miniature” – in few places do so many people want something with the same land.
The constantly changing policy is already making farmers in the Binnenveld disappointed, distrustful and angry
In 2021, the idea was that provinces, municipalities, farmers and residents would make one plan. Seventy of the hundred farmers united in an area cooperative; Versteeg is on the board of the regional Agriculture and Horticulture Organization. Although everyone had different goals – building houses, continuing to farm, restoring nature – the Binnenveld was discussed as one area, across borders. Exactly as the government would like to see it: ‘area processes’ that should reduce nitrogen emissions and restore nature.
But the Binnenveld is now in danger of becoming the epitome of a country that failed to implement a clear nitrogen policy. An area that had to break down borders falls apart precisely along those borders.
Also read
The Binnenveld is the Netherlands in miniature – with all the problems of living, farming and building
Faltering film reels
It started with the central government, which waited years to introduce clear nitrogen measures. Under the previous cabinet, there was a standstill, partly due to pressure from BBB. Provinces could no longer wait and got to work themselves. In the Binnenveld, this will soon mean that farmers, who sometimes have their meadows next to each other, will have to deal with completely different rules.
When he took office, Minister Jaimi van Essen (Agriculture, D66) said he wanted to play “a different film”: more cooperation, fewer protests, clear policy. His national plans are expected within a few weeks to get the Netherlands out of the nitrogen knot. Much housing construction, renovation on farms and industry are now at a standstill because additional nitrogen emissions are not allowed due to court rulings.
In the Binnenveld, the minister will see that he has to deal with the faltering film roles of his predecessors. Here, as in other provinces, there are already plans for the rural area that were drawn up outside the government. ‘The Hague’ knows this and wants to give the provinces a leading role in the new nitrogen policy, but according to the coalition agreement the minister does want a “level playing field” across provincial and municipal borders.
For the Binnenveld, however, the national rules seem to come too late for a “level playing field”, unless provincial plans are completely changed again, and that would frustrate both administrators and farmers. The constantly changing policy is already making farmers in the Binnenveld disappointed, distrustful and angry – exactly what the government wants to prevent.
Nitrogen zone yes/no
At her kitchen table, Versteeg says that years ago farmers left discussions about an overarching plan for the Binnenveld. According to them, some municipalities were mainly concerned with housing construction and did not listen to other wishes.
Despite attempts, it was not possible to continue talking. Utrecht and Gelderland decided to continue per province, at their own pace and choices. This became inevitable when the previous government withdrew a pot of more than 20 billion euros for the development of rural areas. Provinces had to figure it out themselves. In the autumn of 2025 it became clear that a hard border would be introduced. Utrecht then presented the Utrecht Rural Area Program (UPLG), only for its own province.
Soon one will be the boss and the other won’t
Farmers working in the same area experience two completely different regimes. Utrecht is creating a nitrogen zone of 250 meters around the Binnenveld, where virtually no manure or fertilizer may be spread. It is difficult for companies to continue to exist there; Disposing of manure costs a lot of money. Versteeg falls just outside the limit, but – like all Utrecht farmers – must almost halve emissions of nitrogen and other greenhouse gases.
Utrecht will also have an emissions ceiling tied to the amount of land, while at the same time agricultural land must be used for new nature – plans that Gelderland does not yet have. How it is put into practice must be decided in new area processes, according to the Utrecht plan. Versteeg: “That is of course bizarre, because we had such an area process here, but the provinces continued on their own.”
Farms in the Binnenveld.
Photos Eric Brinkhorst
Everyone is frustrated
Gelderland works with its own plans: also with nitrogen zones, near the Veluwe and other areas, but not around the Binnenveld. And it is still unclear whether the Gelderland neighbors will also receive emission standards from their Utrecht colleagues. A spokesperson says that more clarity will become clear about the approach around the Binnenveld next autumn: “It will then become clear whether the standards differ between the two provinces.”
Dirk Jan Bleijerveld, coordinator of an association for agricultural nature management in the area, sees the provincial border as a “limiting factor”. Some farmers have their farm on one side, their land on the other. “That will soon lead to strange situations.” Farmers are used to some differences between provinces and municipalities, he says, but: “They see this as one agricultural area and soon one will be the boss and the other will not.”
It’s frustrating for almost everyone. Chairman René Verhulst and secretary-director Monique Esselbrugge of Foodvalley (eight municipalities) registered a response that it is “crucial” that Utrecht and Gelderland “operate unambiguously”. Differences in “policies, pace and instruments” lead to “bottlenecks, uncertainty and inequality.”
‘Clear, national frameworks’
A spokesperson from Utrecht points to the cabinet: “We think it is undesirable if farmers in similar situations have to deal with different rules. That is why we have repeatedly indicated to the government that we need national regulations and clear, national frameworks.”
Previously, deputies from almost all provinces agreed NRC that the government did not take leadership in the nitrogen crisis for years. Now that the government is once again coming up with national requirements, it is becoming complicated to treat farmers equally. The size of nitrogen zones around vulnerable nature alone is becoming a point of discussion: in The Hague there is talk of national zones of 500 or 1,000 meters, while Utrecht has opted for 250 meters and Gelderland for 500 meters around certain areas.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture does not want to comment on the situation in the Binnenveld, but says that the work that provinces have already done forms “an important basis” for the nitrogen plans to be presented soon. There “remains room for customization”, because local differences can be large, but “the cabinet is in control” and upcoming nitrogen measures must “also prevent undesirable differences between areas”.
Also read
‘We will absorb the blows’ – provinces feel left alone by the cabinet in the nitrogen crisis
84 hectares of new nature
Linda Versteeg was at all consultations – first about the area plans, later about the design plans for the UPLG. She repeatedly pointed out the unfairness of a hard border, but she saw nothing of this in Utrecht’s final plan.
Versteeg: “We have been proposing options for years to increase the biodiversity of agricultural land, to make room for nature restoration. We are not a protest party, we think along and understand that something needs to be done. But it is our land, so you need us too.”
What hurts her most is that Utrecht wants to convert 84 hectares of agricultural land in the Binnenveld into nature. In this way, two protected nature reserves on the Utrecht side can be connected. According to the province, this is the best way to prevent deterioration of nature – a legal obligation.
It’s just unfair if you get an ammonia ceiling and a colleague 1.5 kilometers away doesn’t
But for farmers it feels like a blow. Previously, they participated in the land consolidation that made the Achterbergse Hooilanden nature reserve possible, without knowing that the area would later have to be connected to another area. Moreover, says Versteeg, the Gelderland side already has a contiguous nature reserve: “The connection is purely necessary ‘on paper’ for nature restoration on the Utrecht side, but in practice those areas are already connected just across the border.”
Versteeg notices that people are losing confidence in the government. They are constantly confronted with different policies, new rules and boundaries. And then the government still has to come up with the national nitrogen approach. Versteeg: “It is simply not fair if you get an ammonia ceiling and a colleague a mile away does not. What is the point of cooperation then?”
Also read
This is how the national nitrogen file ended up in Elbert Hennipman’s yard. ‘It’s not possible that an entire community could be destroyed by sacrificing five companies, is it?’
