“Wait, why are you running away now?”
… ‘You didn’t do it, you say, the farmers did it…?’
… ‘But you were there. You helped the farmers. And … wasn’t it your idea too?’
… ‘You now have the biggest part of the pie.’
… ‘Hm hm… you’re scared… I get that…’
… ‘Look, I’ll explain something to you. Something very important has been broken. Maybe that wasn’t your intention, but now that we know how bad it is that trees, plants and animals are dying, you can’t go on with it.’
… ‘And if you break something – or if you have helped someone else break something – you have to take responsibility for it…’
… ‘You know what that is, responsibility…?’
Perhaps that’s about what American kindergarten teacher Mrs. Frazzled would say to De Heus, Royal A-Ware, Vion, FrieslandCampina, Agrifirm and the other large companies that do not go to Johan Remkes.
On TikTok, Mrs. Frazzled over 1 million followers. She talks to Donald Trump like she teaches her preschoolers, for example, after the FBI searched his home in Mar-a-Lago.
‘Are you feeling calm and safe and ready to talk?’
…’How are you feeling now?‘
…’Frustrated? Yeah, I get it. Do you understand why they took these items from you?’
…’No, not for no reason. You took them home and you are not allowed to, so they took them back, the FBI…’
…’We need to start taking some responsibility for our actions. Do you know what responsibility means….?’
…’No honey you cannot go play golf right now. You have to stay here, inside.’
When nitrogen broker Johan Remkes talks to the large commercial parties that earn billions from farmers on Thursday, the most important companies in the agro-industry are missing. The trade association of animal feed manufacturers Nevedi also announced that it would stay at home, as did the umbrella organization of supermarkets CBL.
In the nitrogen crisis, the farmers are the frontrunner. The farmer as a symbol that the nation likes to wrap itself around. Frau Antje, the cow, the cheese and a farmer in clogs, what could be more Dutch? We are The cow who fell into the water.
Thanks in part to subsidies, it is also a lucrative business. According to CBS figures, 63 percent of Dutch dairy farmers were millionaires in 2017 (one fifth of all Dutch millionaires). Since then, milk production has risen sharply, their capital probably correspondingly.
A number of farmers will have to give up their business in its current industrial form, but the cabinet has 25 billion euros to offer farmers financial security. The greatest commercial loss threatens elsewhere. At the De Heus family, the very wealthy animal feed manufacturer with a turnover of 3.2 billion euros and a profit of 125 million euros (2020), as described in a portrait by Michael Persson. Or with the Van Drie family, which rears and slaughters calves, and which exports meat, calfskins, animal feed and dairy. Families in the Quote 500.
In NRC Handelsblad Tom-Jan Meeus examined what they are doing to influence the nitrogen debate and discovered: everything to keep large-scale industrial agriculture intact. They have direct lines with The Hague. They sponsor TV programs that boost the image of the farmer. They pay the Agri Facts foundation, which sows doubts about nitrogen policy with alternative facts. They support Agractie, which organizes farmers’ protests.
The large commercial companies are therefore the driving force behind the farmers’ protest. But as soon as they are invited to talk about the consequences of the intensive livestock farming that earns them billions, they wave their hand. ‘Ah-ah. Don’t be with me.’
It’s a painful case of privatizing gains, socializing losses. The profit is private, the costs are for society. Nobody spends millions of advertising money for the old oaks in the Veluwe that are falling over. No company pays activist groups to protect children’s rights from the destruction of their living environment. It’s time for Mrs. Frazzled takes the agro-companies by the ears, explains in her simple language why diving is unacceptable, and drags them to Remkes’ table.
Marcia Luyten is a writer and journalist and writes an exchange column with Heleen Mees every other week.