The province of Drenthe must take better control of the nitrogen debate and at the same time offer farmers perspective. That is the view of the nature management organizations and the Nature and Environment Federation (NMF). They have no problem with the province having brushed off the much-criticized nitrogen map, but according to them it cannot be the case that everything is now being discussed again with all parties. “Otherwise nothing changes.”
They say that in a response to the letter that Deputy Henk Jumelet sent on behalf of the Provincial Executive (GS) to the relevant ministers and Provincial Council (PS) of Drenthe.
We understand card from the table
Director Reinder Hoekstra of the Nature and Environment Federation Drenthe also has difficulty with the nitrogen map because of the ambiguities that the map produces, the sharp discussions that are being held about it and the accompanying frustrations about the consequences for farmers. Jan Gorter of Natuurmonumenten and director Sonja van der Meer of Het Drentse Landschap also feel the same way.
Gorter: “The nitrogen map also leads to framing that the entire countryside will be swept empty.” According to him, this works like a red rag to a bull in the nitrogen debate. “But shooting the nitrogen map must not lead to altering the ultimate nitrogen reduction that must be achieved by 2030 and 2040.”
Don’t mess with the goals
Jumelet and GS also write that the government’s basic goals of nitrogen reduction will not be tampered with. And that, according to Hoekstra, is where the tension lies after yesterday’s letter from the province.
“The province wants to sit down with all stakeholders, according to its well-known method, to make a bottom-up plan per area. But that is really not possible without setting goals in advance. Otherwise you will always get a discussion at those tables about the usefulness and necessity of measures. , while goals have to be achieved.”
Gorter and Van der Meer agree with Hoekstra. Natuurmonumenten sees that the Drenthe polder is certainly not right. “We have been doing that for two years now and it has not yielded any clarity. Not for the farmers, but not for us either.” Hoekstra: “We don’t sit down at a meeting without predetermined goals.”
Local measures alone are completely insufficient
The NMF director is convinced that hard and large generic measures are needed, because the cabinet goals are for the most part not feasible with the area-oriented approach that the province has in mind. “In such a generic approach you will have to arrange minerals and manure management differently.”
Hoekstra, Van der Meer and Gorter are not at all strongly opposed to the area-oriented approach that Jumelet wants, but according to them that alone does not work. “The province should not tell farmers that we will get there with technical innovations on farms and better nitrogen metering,” they say.
Gorter: “An agricultural transition is needed, with future prospects for farmers and support for new earning models for farmers.” According to him, a strong coordinating role from the government is needed and the power of the large dairy companies and agro-giants must be broken. Because, according to Gorter, these help maintain the current way of farming, in which fewer and fewer farmers with increasingly larger companies have to supply at ever smaller margins.
“Perhaps there should be more farmers who farm more extensively for a better living,” says the director of Natuurmonumenten.
Is proportionality really that smart?
The province wants industry and traffic to contribute proportionally to and simultaneously with agriculture to reduce nitrogen emissions. Apart from the realism that agriculture is the biggest emitter and therefore has to do the most, Hoekstra sees a danger in this ‘proportionality’ if this becomes a national trend.
“The ministry has already calculated that you then have to intervene harder in the size of the livestock and that can probably not be the intention of Jumelet and the province,” says Hoekstra.
Firm ground position is a good idea
It is almost at the bottom of the long letter that GS writes to the ministers and PS: ‘Drenthe will have to have solid land positions’. According to Gorter and Hoekstra, this is very helpful if you want to farm more extensively. In their view, the agricultural land that is released should not go to nature organizations and housing, but should be divided among other farmers, so that less intensive work can be done on a larger piece of land.