After hours of consultation with six ministers, the agricultural agreement does not blow Audio

Consultations between ministers and farmers’ organization LTO until after 00:30 in the night from Wednesday to Thursday did not lead to the collapse of the agreement. In a week’s time, LTO wants to decide whether the steps are enough, says chairman Sjaak van der Tak. “Then the decision is made: hom or roe.”

He said this after a large cabinet delegation spent half the night discussing the agricultural agreement. No less than six ministers have joined in an ultimate attempt to save the agricultural agreement.

In addition to Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Minister of Agriculture Piet Adema, the following will also join: Nitrogen Minister Christianne van der Wal, Minister Mark Harbers (Infrastructure), Climate Minister Rob Jetten and Hugo de Jonge (Minister for Spatial Planning). The Nederlands Agrarisch Jongeren Kontakt (NAJK) said that it was a substantive discussion. Chairman Roy Meijer, who did not want to lift a corner of the veil about his commitment: “We have put our concerns on the table and not all points are ready yet,” he said. “Now it is up to the government to get to work.”

Contrary to previous meetings, the entire board of LTO is present. On Wednesday afternoon, LTO Netherlands asked for a suspension of the consultations, after which Minister Adema (LNV) requested that the negotiations be given one more chance later today. For example, we can see the consultations that farmers’ organizations are having with the cabinet tonight to reach agreement on the agricultural agreement.

LTO foreman Sjaak van der Tak did not want to comment in advance on whether he still believes that he can reach an agricultural agreement with the cabinet. “It is a very important conversation, because it is about the perspective for our farmers.” The negotiations are still not over, says the farmer’s foreman. “It is a suspension, no more and no less.”

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On Wednesday morning, LTO said it would withdraw from the new consultations if no agreement was reached today. “Today is such a day of: will we get out or will we not get out?” said the LTO foreman. Earlier, Rutte already joined a nightly negotiation, where, according to insiders, the blow of the consultation has been on the table. Biohuis negotiator Douwe Monsma thinks that LTO still wants to reach an agreement that the organic farmers – whom he advocates – can live with. “There is room for it, but there is still some work to be done.”

A hitch in the Agricultural Agreement may mean a delay in the renegotiations announced by the CDA, according to insiders at the party. The agreement with farmers, the government and agricultural companies is an important condition for the CDA. That party has been in trouble since last summer with the nitrogen agreements from its own coalition agreement. Party leader Wopke Hoekstra wants to get rid of the 2030 deadline, but a cabinet dispute about this was frozen in April.

Earlier in the evening, the NAJK and Biohuis came out after their talks with the cabinet. They felt that the cabinet still had to take steps:

‘Before the summer’ the CDA would invite the coalition partners to renegotiate the nitrogen plans. That conversation should take place sometime in the coming weeks, after the buy-out arrangements have been approved by Brussels, various provinces have presented their coalition agreement and the agricultural agreement has been completed. Two of the three conditions have been ticked off, but the agreement has not yet been reached. “Why don’t we want to renegotiate now,” said CDA party chairman Pieter Heerma during the parliamentary debate in April. ,,Because otherwise we run the risk that we will lock ourselves up in a box and then come to an agreement, in which we do not relate to society. We must do this together with the provinces and together with the sector. So we want to wait and see.”

For months, the Minister of Agriculture has been striving for an agreement that should offer future prospects to the agricultural and horticultural sector in the Netherlands. Agreements should be made about how farmers can still earn a good income in the coming decades from the production of dairy, potatoes and meat. That future perspective is necessary to find support for hard measures such as buying up farmers to reduce nitrogen emissions.

Last week, Van der Tak On the AD issued a profit warning. The accumulation of rules on the environment, nature, climate, soil and water continues from Brussels and The Hague, he stated. “The cabinet is completely stuck,” Van der Tak said at the time. With the current stack of rules, reaching an agricultural agreement would be an illusion.

Regaining confidence through the agricultural agreement is crucial for a better relationship between farmers on the one hand and the government on the other. Mediator Johan Remkes concluded last year that confidence in the government in rural areas has fallen to an all-time low.

One of the main points of discussion in the current consultation is the introduction of a maximum standard for the number of cows per hectare. The LTO refuses such a standard, because it would deprive farmers of their entrepreneurial freedom. Van der Tak prefers to see hard environmental standards for every company, after which each farmer can demonstrate that he adheres to them.

According to Adema, however, the introduction of such a standard is not a discussion, but a fact. The Minister of Agriculture acknowledged that the agreement could still fall on Wednesday.

read here why so much importance is attached to the agricultural agreement.

Cabinet taken from the stable for rescue attempt agricultural agreement: ‘They are playing with fire’

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