Nitrogen emissions in De Peel must be reduced by 70 to 80 percent. This is apparent from the Regional Strategy drawn up by the Ministry of Agriculture. The report about this in NRC falls raw on the roof of many farmers in the area. “Unfeasible and therefore impossible,” says Mario Berkers of ZLTO in that area.
He is angry. And sad. But mostly angry. Angry that officials at the ministry have leaked this information so that it is ‘suddenly’ in the newspaper. “We have been working together for so long to come up with solutions. Now the farmers are being put in the spotlight again. That is not good for cooperation.” He also calls the percentages absurd. “With the best will in the world you will never get this done.”
For more than two years, various organizations have been sitting around the table to see how the area can be used optimally. The Area-Oriented Approach. ZLTO is still sitting at the table in Brabant. In other provinces, farmers’ representatives resigned earlier. Because they don’t feel heard. Once again it hurts that more is being said about the farmers than with them.
“We always hope for common sense.”
“Colleagues are just mentally confused with what they get on their plate every time,” says Mario. “We always keep the hope that common sense is also found in other places than just the farmers, but we are starting to doubt that more and more. Nothing is done with our input.”
They would like to propose solutions, but they disappear at the bottom of a drawer, according to Mario. Because buying out farmers is really not the only solution for tackling the nitrogen problem. “We are really trying. With innovative solutions, with manure processing, with everything. But people don’t listen.”
“It is that I have only a few hairs, but you lose them quickly now.”
Mario slowly begins to lose heart. “It is very difficult, even as a ZLTO, to keep hope. It is that I have only a few hairs, but you are losing them quickly, with everything that is coming at us. It is such a shame. Everything that is gone, never coming back.”
Mario and his colleagues believe that there is too little empathy from The Hague. That it is much too easy to talk about property that belongs to someone else. “It’s starting to look more like theft than collaboration this way.” He refers to the possibility that farmers can be forced to stop if they do not want to voluntarily stop through a stopper scheme.
“We are almost being vomited by our own politicians.”
“We are working hard for our own future. There is no appreciation at all for what we have already done and achieved. That hurts. We are one of the best food producers in the world, everyone comes to see it. But we are almost vomited by our own politicians. That hurts.”
No matter how hard he tries, Mario can hardly look positively at the (farming) future anymore. “I’m trying to see what the chances are, but it’s getting harder and harder. It’s really becoming a problem now.”
Friday 10 June, Minister Christianne van der Wal of Nitrogen and Nature will talk to the cabinet. Then it’s up to the provinces. They must come up with a plan before 1 June 2023 to achieve the nitrogen reductions in the various areas.
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