“I will deliver our message on Friday, and then I will take the response of the cabinet back to the other farmers’ organizations,” said Van der Tak after the meeting in the center of the country. The farmers’ organizations did not want to say exactly what that message is. But the core is that they reject the hard and far-reaching measures to significantly reduce nitrogen emissions from livestock farming.
“We are on the same page in terms of content,” said Agractie chairman and sheep farmer Bart Kemp. “There has never been so much unity,” added Van der Tak. Last week resentment arose among farmers’ clubs because LTO promised to enter into talks with Remkes, while many other farmers’ organizations such as Farmers Defense Force did not want that. Those wrinkles seem smoothed out. “The word traitor did not fall tonight,” said the LTO chairman.
Challenge
The closed front from farmers corner means a new challenge for VVD celebrity Remkes. Although he has the commitment of some organizations to come to the table on Friday, together with some ministers and Prime Minister Rutte, but if the main farmers’ clubs only come to hand over a message and do not want to negotiate, then it will be difficult to make progress.
Many farmers are angry and concerned about the very strict nitrogen requirements recently imposed by Minister Van der Wal (Nature and Nitrogen). They could lead to the end of possibly more than 15,000 livestock farms. In countless places outside the Randstad, citizens have joined the resistance by hanging up inverted flags.
The fierce protest against the plans, ushered in with a mass demonstration at Stroe in the Gelderse Vallei, has yielded something, according to farmers’ organizations. For example, Van der Wal’s plans are no longer cast in concrete. Prime Minister Rutte initially stated that he did not want to deviate from anything. In order to get the farmers to the table after all, the cabinet made a turn last week and stated that there would be ‘no more taboos’ for the consultations.
Models
Agriculture is feeling empowered by the mounting criticism of the models used by the government to calculate nitrogen emissions. This Aerius model has been criticized for some time that it is too inaccurate. It was announced this week that TNO has also lodged the same complaint with the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. Estimates of nitrogen precipitation from stables over several kilometers would not exceed other noise.
“The government forces us to use a model that is not right,” says Sieta van Keimpema, affiliated with Farmers Defense Force. “However, this Aerius model is enshrined in law. But you cannot formulate a sound policy based on a bad model.” Dissatisfaction with this model is one of the points of discussion at Remkes’ table.
After the meeting on Friday, Remkes will also hold talks with individual farmers. Meetings with chain parties, provinces and local administrators will follow later this month. All kinds of nature and environmental organizations will also join the table at a later date. A number of large agricultural companies such as dairy manufacturers, transport companies and meat processors have indicated that they do not yet want to sit down with Remkes.