Along the route of the Vuelta, near Woudenberg, there are dozens of tractors and trucks along the side of the ditch for more than a kilometer. Behind it, a few hundred farmers and employees of, among others, animal feed and other agricultural companies gather on Saturday afternoon on the site of contracting company Donselaar. There are free sausage sandwiches offered by cattle dealers and transporters, the Beatbusters play Normal and a poultry farmer hands out red handkerchiefs.
Farmers’ organization Agractie is using the cycling tour to highlight the protest against the cabinet’s nitrogen plans. It has been agreed with the municipality, the police and the Vuelta organization, says the organizer, that the message ‘SOS Farmers’ will receive “airtime” if the farmers keep the road clear.
It is a day after CDA leader Wopke Hoekstra put the cabinet under tension by arguing for a “restart” of the nitrogen process. On the podium is Bart Kemp, foreman of Agractie. “SOS Farmers is going all over the world, folks.”
Kemp has called Prime Minister Rutte and mediator Remkes in recent days. In the meantime, he says, “some pressure” has been exerted on the CDA. “Compliments” to Hoekstra, he says, who “came out first”. “I expect ChristenUnie and D66 to follow.” And if the government does fold, it means delays. “Also fine. As long as the rotten foundation of the nitrogen policy gets off the table.”
Hoekstra called in an interview with the AD halving nitrogen emissions by 2030 is no longer “holy” on Friday. He also wants the so-called ‘critical deposition values’ (KDWs) to be derived from the Nitrogen Act, the model that determines how much nitrogen precipitation an ecosystem can handle.
Result: quarrel in the cabinet.
Kemp sees it as the result of months of campaigning. He himself votes SGP, says Kemp behind the podium. He likes straightforward, consistent. But he is happy with the turn of the CDA. “If Hoekstra withdraws this droppings, that will be the end of the CDA.”
Last CDA vote
The CDA had to, you can also hear it when you hear about Hoekstra from other farmers in Woudenberg. Because who still votes CDA here? “Then you’re good to go,” says Jaap van de Heg (75), who also stands here for his son, who took over the family business with dairy and poultry. His vote for Pieter Omtzigt – now an independent MP – was the last vote for the CDA. Not only the nitrogen dossier caused this, but also the allowance affair, the ‘wipping’ of Omtzigt, in fact everything the government does. “I hardly trust anyone anymore.”
A little further on, Henk Meerbeek, dairy farmer in Woudenberg, is talking with two colleagues. Most here, they say, voted CDA. “See you Derk Boswijk.” They mean: until the CDA MP in 2021 was the first to suggest shrinking livestock and buying out farmers.
These three farmers also say: the CDA will implode if the party continues its nitrogen policy. If Hoekstra stands firm now, he may get a few more seats. Why voters would still want to go back? “Maybe because of the C of the CDA”, says one.
Not that they have much faith in Hoekstra, in the CDA, in ‘The Hague’. “I never believed in conspiracy theories,” says Meerbeek (60). But now I think: Kaag [D66-leider en minister van Financiën] is behind it. That’s how I talk. Strange, isn’t it?”
The farmers in Woudenberg do not give the impression that they have all blindly thrown themselves into the arms of Caroline van der Plas and the BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB). They vote ChristenUnie, SGP, and even if they vote BBB, some still hope that the CDA can regain their trust.
Also read: CDA members support Hoekstra’s statements: ‘Following stubbornly to nitrogen targets is unworldly’
‘This is not a test balloon’
Dick Veldhuizen is handing out free coffee at a food truck. He is former chairman of the CDA in Woudenberg. What one person calls a twist, he thinks is a logical consequence of how it should be in a party: Hoekstra is open to signals from the departments, from the farmers’ supporters. Hoekstra also gave Veldhuizen a listening ear. ‘Wise and sensible’, he calls Hoekstra’s new course. “This is not a test balloon. I expect other parties to start thinking too.”
Perhaps the CDA will win back voters if the party perseveres and the nitrogen plans are shelved. “But it’s not about the votes for me,” says Veldhuis. “This transcends party interests, and even those of the peasantry. It’s about the countryside.”
The peloton approaches Woudenberg a little after three. “SOS Dutch Farmers” are the three words that the NOS commentator spends on it. At Radio 1, the Vuelta blockades in Gameren by horticulturists at high gas prices predominate. So much for the ‘airtime’ of the farmers in Woudenberg.