There are about 100 tractors on the large square in front of the provincial government building in Arnhem, some with flashing lights. Yet it is dead quiet. The farmers’ protest that took place on Thursday evening in Arnhem has been registered. Coffee, soup and bitterballen were ready in the provincial government building. And so all the farmers are inside.
It has been a while since Dutch farmers made themselves heard. This week it happened. On Wednesday evening, about 180 farmers went to the Overijssel provincial government building to talk to deputy Maurits von Martels (BBB). And on Thursday evening, about three hundred farmers went to Arnhem and about fifteen tractors stood on Dam Square in Amsterdam.
Those present in the provincial government building, the vast majority of them men, have just handed over a ‘manifesto’ to deputy Harold Zoet (BBB). A red-bordered piece of paper states, among other things, that ‘the Green Deal’ (a package of European measures with the ultimate goal of climate neutrality by 2050) must be reversed. The farmers also want the National Rural Area Program (NPLG) to end, the program with which provinces can determine how they will achieve goals for nature, nitrogen, water and climate. In addition, all buffer strips should be deleted, according to the farmers. These are manure-free strips along water, which have been mandatory since March 2023 to protect water quality. Less and less manure is allowed to be spread on agricultural land, and that must also stop, according to the activists. It was signed: ‘all tractor groups in the Netherlands’.
Deputy Zoet responds to the petition in a room in the provincial government building. But given that all demands from farmers in The Hague or the EU must be met, he cannot do much. “You are really important, the food makers,” he says. “We are all going to vote right-wing and it will become even more right-wing,” said the audience. And: “I no longer believe in the soft approach. Blocking the highway was the soft approach.”
Protest sparked
That evening the farmers are mainly concerned with making the signal, says Ronald Wolters from Lievelde. He also knows that agricultural policy is up to the government and the EU. “But every director, local, regional or national, has a responsibility,” he says. “They need to know that this is alive. The Netherlands should not make stricter rules for farmers than the EU prescribes.”
Why is the protest emerging again now? There are about twenty to thirty tractor groups in the Netherlands, says Wolters. “They think of something at regular intervals.” The fact that the app groups of these unofficial trekking clubs are starting to stir may also be due to protests abroad. Protests took place across Belgium on Thursday, including in Brussels, and protests have been going on in France for about two weeks.
“Everyone was tired, and the willingness to take action was moderate,” says dairy farmer Jarno Meulenbeek from Vierakker. “But it is being fueled again by what we are now seeing in Germany and France.” Another important alarm bell: manure accounting. Many of the farmers’ demands are about fertilizer, and that is no coincidence. Rules for the amount of manure a farmer can dispose of on agricultural land, and where, are becoming increasingly strict. “And now everyone starts calling each other: is there anything I can say to you?” says Meulenbeek.
Wolters, who works in the animal feed sector, also sees this. “And we also had the idea that things were going to be resolved, commitments were being made.” Then the government fell. “But the outgoing government was still able to identify nutrient-contaminated areas,” says Wolters. In those areas, farmers must take additional measures to improve water quality from January 1, 2024. Wolters today heard many “praise words” about the profession from provincial administrators. “But we always hear that,” he sniffs. “We don’t buy dry bread for that yet.”