The cabinet will present its own plan for reforming the agricultural sector in September. This was said by Minister Piet Adema of Agriculture this afternoon after the Council of Ministers.
It will set out how the sector will be reformed up to and including 2040. Earlier this week, the talks about the Agricultural Agreement collapsed when lobby club LTO withdrew.
According to Adema, it should not take too long now; he wants to work ‘full swing’ for a plan in the coming period. The cabinet discussed, among other things, the draft agreement that had been reached after months of agricultural consultations. This ’95 percent version’, as Adema calls it, will be made public today. According to him, it contains ‘building blocks’ for the cabinet plan.
However, the CDA no longer wants to negotiate with the other three coalition parties before the summer on the nitrogen section of the coalition agreement. That is what CDA leader and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wopke Hoekstra said after the Council of Ministers. Previously, that was still the party’s commitment.
Hoekstra did not make it entirely clear when further negotiations will take place. However, it is the intention that this is discussed before the cabinet presents its new agricultural plans. It is not known what consequences the termination of negotiations on nitrogen will have for the new plan for the agricultural sector.
A few weeks after the elections for the Provincial Council, the CDA announced that it can no longer live with that part of the agreement. The party wants 2030 to be taken off the table as the deadline for the nitrogen targets. This wish remains, Hoekstra said today.
The CDA set three conditions before it wanted to renegotiate. Arrangements for farmers to stop or innovate had to be in place, new coalitions had to be formed in all Provincial Councils and an agricultural agreement had to be ready. Only the first condition has been met and the last will no longer succeed.
Next Thursday, the House of Representatives will debate the closure of the agricultural agreement. Farmers have indicated that they may then demonstrate in The Hague. “Run up to The Hague!”, Farmers Defense Force (FDF) calls on farmers. The protest group wants the CDA to leave the cabinet.
“Many farmers are dissatisfied with the way in which their interests are being treated. We are imposed additional requirements and wishes, but there is no guarantee whatsoever that this will serve our revenue model. The government has very little interest in improving confidence, as many farmers are furious about it,” says Sieta van Keimpema of FDF. She says she does not yet know how many supporters want to participate in the protest.