It is the summer of 2021, it is thirty degrees outside and there are about twenty farmers in the ski hut of rural discotheque Dieka near Markelo. “Just get to work,” says SGP deputy Gert Harm ten Bolscher to them. “Make a plan to reduce nitrogen emissions.”
The farmers are from the Sustainable Initiative Markelo Noord: an association of farmers from an area between the towns of Markelo and Rijssen in Overijssel. They farm close to the Natura 2000 area de Borkeld. Nitrogen precipitation causes acidification of the soil there, putting the heath area under pressure. Nitrogen emissions must be significantly reduced.
The farmers had already united before the nitrogen crisis when they saw what was coming their way: all kinds of government measures against drought and for climate and nature policy. Together they sowed herb-rich grass, laid out flower-rich strips and took more account of meadow birds. They invested in knowledge: all the farmers were standing in a side room of the disco one evening with a laundry basket with a shovel of soil in it for a three-day course in soil management from the agricultural institute Louis Bolk. This way they kept control themselves, before the government imposed rules on them.
They also tackled the nitrogen problem together. “It is very difficult to realize those tasks on your own land alone,” says Harrie Veldkamp (63), one of the initiators. “Let’s do it and let all the policy come to us, or are you trying to take the initiative yourself?”
The plan of the farmers of Markelo-Noord has now been finalized and calculated. The nineteen farmers expect to be able to reduce their joint nitrogen emissions by about 58 percent. But the government policy to achieve that is lacking, they say.
Arjan Zandvoort (37), a dairy farmer in the area, for example, wants to ‘extensify’: he then keeps fewer cows per hectare. Now he has 120 cows and 50 hectares of land. “Almost two and a half cows per hectare, which is quite intensive,” he admits. For example, with more land he has to import less concentrate because his cows can eat more grass from his land.
The Hague says: get to work. I say: we are working, come and help us.
Arjan Zandvoort dairy farmer
The land could come from neighbor Harrie Veldkamp, also a dairy farmer. He will be 64 this year and has no successor. But if Veldkamp ceases business now, he will have to pay a substantial amount to the tax authorities. Veldkamp would have to pay tax on the ‘strike profit’, the difference between the tax value and the actual value of the company. This difference also includes, for example, an old-age reserve. “And then I hand in part of my pension,” says Veldkamp. “That’s why nobody stops: they remain agricultural entrepreneurs to avoid paying the tax authorities.”
And if Veldkamp were to stop in the short term, that does not mean that Zandvoort can take over its land. The government often has the right of first purchase, while Veldkamp and his neighbor could have reached an agreement among themselves.
“The Hague says: get to work,” says Zandvoort. “I say: we are working, come and help us.” Veldkamp needs a tax scheme so that he can stop quickly, Zandvoort wants the government to regulate land consolidation better so that he can extensify. The plan is now stalled due to the lack of such arrangements.
It leads to the annoyance of deputy Ten Bolscher, who challenged the farmers to come up with plans. “Reductions such as in Markelo-Noord are only discussed in The Hague,” he says. “For the time being, there is only one scheme in the picture and that is the purchase scheme for peak loaders, and even that is not yet available to farmers. I cannot even call the policy to help farmers with this major task inadequate. It’s not there.”
Cheese from the shore
Seven dairy farmers on Schiermonnikoog can share their thoughts about the uncertainties that arise when you, as a farmer, make your own plans to reduce your nitrogen emissions. As early as 2014, the farmers on the island presented their alternative to the nature conservation plans of the province of Friesland.
So-called ‘area processes’, such as in Markelo-Noord and on Schiermonnikoog, must take place around all 162 Natura 2000 areas. The provinces must lead these discussions and are responsible for implementing the agricultural transition in order to achieve the targets for nitrogen, climate and water quality.
By handing in all livestock, the farmers on Schiermonnikoog could avoid the compulsory buying out or relocation of one of them and nature was sufficiently relieved. Cheese is now made from half of the milk – “with island character”. The margins on cheese are better than on milk.
The switch is by no means easy, admits dairy farmer Ludie van der Bijl (53) over the phone. “We can say after a year that you don’t just make a profit. We have lost 38 percent of our cows, and therefore 38 percent of the income. We now receive a transition payment to bridge the coming years. In that period we have to develop a new revenue model, but that is not that easy.”
And that while the project on Schiermonnikoog should not fail: former Minister of Agriculture Carola Schouten (ChristenUnie) came to the island in person in 2021 to sign the agreement with the farmers. Other prominent figures were also directly involved: Jan Willem Erisman, the Leiden professor of the environment and sustainability, also known as the ‘nitrogen professor’, supported the farmers. And the province and environmental organizations were enthusiastic. In May, says Van der Bijl, King Willem-Alexander will also visit his yard.
The government thinks it can realize something like this in a very short time, but it took us eight or nine years
Louis van der Bijl dairy farmer
The project got off the ground thanks to the personal involvement of these dignitaries, says public administration researcher Wiebren Kuindersma of Wageningen University & Research (WUR). “But if you look at how many interventions were needed to make it all possible, it shows that the government does not have the instruments in order.” He sums up how many clubs were involved in the project: “A feasibility study was carried out, a marketing study was carried out, Royal HaskoningDHV investigated the ‘residual flows’, a dairy farm/cheese dairy quartermaster was appointed, an external chairman of the steering group was appointed, and the Wageningen consultancy agency WING provided ‘project and process support’.”
Dairy farmer Van der Bijl saw the benevolence of politicians. But it sometimes took a very long time before something was arranged. “The government thinks it can realize something like this in a very short time, but it took us eight or nine years.”
The project on Schiermonnikoog is still not completed. “We would like to make the cheese on the island, because that fits better with our biodiverse story and we can then give guided tours. But if we set up a dairy processing plant on the island, it will mean an increase in nitrogen deposition, which is by definition not allowed.” The farmers, who have already surrendered 38 percent of their livestock, can make construction possible if they temporarily keep even less livestock. “I think it’s insane,” says Van der Bijl. “It will take some time before construction starts.”
Conversations at the kitchen table
“Area processes are complex and usually take ten to fifteen years to complete,” says WUR researcher Kuindersma. It takes a lot of time to get farmers on the same page. Farmers are sometimes dependent on each other (who gets the land from the farmer who quits?) and also have to give each other something (why do I have to get rid of more cattle than the neighbor?).
Farmers in Markelo-Noord are prepared to take measures, but intensive discussions were required. Agricultural broker and steward Joost Pleiter and agricultural expert Els Uijterlinde were called in for this – the province financed this. They spoke to every farmer in the collective after 2021.
After much insistence, the province indicated that emissions in Markelo-Noord had to be reduced by 50 percent. The central question at the kitchen table became: what can and do you want to contribute? The conversations were sometimes difficult, says Pleiter. The infamous map of nitrogen minister Van der Wal (VVD) had just been published that summer. Burnt-out bales of hay still smoldered along the highways.
The biggest profit in Markelo-Noord has already been made, Pleiter and Uijterlinde discovered. The farmers had already adapted their business operations – after all, they were already working on sustainability before the nitrogen crisis. A number of farmers have also stopped. In total, this results in a 32 percent reduction. With the companies that are still going to stop, the reduction percentage will be 39 percent, they calculated. The rest must come from the farmers who stay, such as Zandvoort, which wants to reduce the emissions of its cows by feeding them smarter. “The great thing is,” says Pleiter, “not everyone has the same plan.” Some want to extensify, others are thinking of feeding measures, for example. “In this way we maintain the diversity among farmers.”
If the conversations have to be held on a large scale, and with farmers who are less benevolent, “it becomes infinitely more complex,” says Kuindersma. The cabinet hopes to achieve the nitrogen targets in 2030 – that is already seven years from now. “Everyone knows that those goals are not feasible, but no one dares to say it out loud.”
And even the benevolent farmers of Markelo-Noord will not be able to get started for the time being, as long as there are no good arrangements in place. Keeping less livestock, for example, becomes more attractive if farmers can also be paid for ‘green services’, such as the construction of flower-rich grass borders, preferably with long-term contracts. This is currently only possible in specially designated areas. Zandvoort: “One thing is certain in the life of a dairy farmer and that is that Friesland-Campina comes to collect the milk from me every three days. Another revenue model must have the same certainties.”
The province is not sitting still, deputy Ten Bolscher swears. Overijssel made 25 million euros available for the legalization of PAS reporters, invested 100 million euros in a land fund to purchase companies with a lot of land and invested just under 20 million euros in the area processes. Together with WUR, the province is investigating how ‘management measures’, such as feeding cows less protein, can be made legally tenable. “That is typically something that the government could tackle, but we are doing that now. Transform a company or set up a landscape fund to pay for nature management services for the longer term? Create tax arrangements for quitters? Then you talk about huge sums and state aid tests. The government should do that.”
The Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality states in a response that it is working on such schemes. They should be available in the coming months.
Ten Bolscher had another farmer on the phone last week: “He wanted to end his business and find out what the province had to offer him. The arrangements are coming, it sounds from The Hague, but I couldn’t offer him anything.”