They sat together at the table in June on a talk show. Minister Henk Staghouwer of Agriculture, Nature and Fisheries and the Brabant farmers Jos Leenders and Marije van Velthoven. Topic of discussion: the lack of prospects for farmers after the government’s nitrogen plans became public. Staghouwer promised to visit their farms and he kept his word. Tuesday at the end of the afternoon he first crossed the threshold with Jos, later that afternoon with Marije and her father.
A tour of Jos’s arable and pig farm in Asten was the first on the program. A cautious opportunity for Staghouwer to regain the farmers’ confidence. In recent months, we have seen protest after protest, in response to the cabinet’s nitrogen plans. Because what future does the agricultural sector have, many farmers wonder.
“If someone in the car pulls on your steering wheel to drive in a different direction, you will only get into an argument.”
Jos Leenders has great difficulty with the way in which the cabinet has devised the plans. “It can best be compared to a reorganization within a company. Imposing new rules from above does not work at all. That has to come much more from the sector. If someone pulls on your steering wheel in the car to drive in a different direction, you just get into a fight.”
Leenders does not deny that something has to change. But the way in which the goal can be achieved should be left much more to the entrepreneur himself. “Rules sometimes clash. For example, we arable farmers are obliged to sow green manures on August 14. These are plant species that can give the soil a boost before you sow a new crop. But the soil is bone dry, so the fertiliser will do that. nothing and will not help my next crop. Let me sow it at another time. But that is not allowed. That way you really don’t help anyone with well-intentioned rules.”
And that’s not the only problem. Leenders has an air washer in his pigsties. “Costs a lot of money, but is simply part of the business plan,” he remarks lightly. What is troubling is that the government, when making new rules, does not take into account the investments that farmers have had to make. “You have to be able to rely on the fact that if you invest in an air scrubber that achieves a certain return according to the government, then it will be good. Then you can’t afford to say a few years later: ‘Now it has to be different’ .”
“The rules are not always so clear and clear at the moment and we really need to work on that.”
Something that Staghouwer acknowledges. “Entrepreneurs must indeed be able to draw up a business plan based on long-term certainties. That you know where you are going for the next ten or fifteen years. The rules are not always so clear and clear at the moment and we really have to work on that.”
That clarity is also what Marije van Velthoven from Leende lacks. She and her brother are eager to take over their father’s business. But with the new plans of the cabinet, that has become very uncertain.
Two stables have to be adapted. The province requires a low-emission floor in this. The permit must be applied for before April 1, 2023. But there is no guarantee that they will be allowed to continue farming with a new stable floor. If the stable floors are already there, because the bank must also see a future in the company at that location. No new stable floor without a bench and then the fairytale is over immediately.
“Moving the company might still be the best option, but I don’t want that at all.”
“Extensifying what the cabinet talks about a lot is simply impossible for us. The land here in the area is super scarce. And very expensive. We simply don’t have the money to buy extra land,” says Laura, the sister-in-law of Mary. “Moving the company might still be the best option, but I don’t want that at all.”
Marije is especially afraid that after all the efforts, investments, purchases and perhaps even expropriation, it turns out that it is all not enough. “I just don’t know what to rely on anymore. Which measurement results are good, does the floor really reduce as much as claimed? Is it worth investing so much tax money if we’re not sure it will work out?”
“You don’t buy anything for beautiful words. No more words, but deeds.”
Marije is pleased that Staghouwer took the trouble to come and listen to her concerns. “He shows interest and really tries his best. But you know, of course he never does it right. Whatever choice he makes, it’s always sour.”
Jos Leenders has a little more confidence. “I think we have explained to him well what we are up against. It is now up to him to bring that up to his ministry. You don’t buy anything for nice words. No more words, but deeds.”