The debate this week was about dates, about the map, about nitrogen values and the calculation model, and about what German farmers should or should not do. It was about politics, about the words of minister and/or party leader Hoekstra, who put a bomb under the coalition agreement, and about the (lack of) confidence in the cabinet. Emergency meetings were held.
But, as it often did throughout this heated summer, it narrowly missed the subject that really should be about: the future of agriculture in the Netherlands.
As if the last three years hadn’t happened. As if the reality has not been on the table since the nitrogen ruling of the Council of State in 2019, and was already known before that. Painful measures are needed to restore nature and keep the Netherlands habitable, and it is inevitable that the agricultural sector plays a major role in this. Minister Christianne van der Wal’s nitrogen reduction map (Nature and Nitrogen, VVD) may have been very unluckily timed and there are many things to be negotiated with, but her message is a clear one.
That is precisely why it is astonishing that the other minister who has this subject in his portfolio was invisible this summer. Where is Minister of Agriculture Henk Staghouwer (ChristenUnie)?
Before the recess, he had a very disappointing performance in the House of Representatives, where he looked like a badass, stumbled over his words and came up with a fifty-page sketch of the future that was so vague that neither opposition nor coalition nor farmers saw a future in it. “A staple through all kinds of existing subsidy schemes”, MP Roelof Bisschop (SGP) called the ‘perspective note’.
Minister Staghouwer would do his homework again, and must hand it in one of these days. It is important that it now gets more than a good pass. Without perspective, there is no support. No nitrogen reduction without support.
Now the Rutte IV cabinet often seems to think that if it makes enough money available, the problem is solved. 25 billion is available for farmers. The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality are fighting among themselves about the costs of buying out or expropriating farmers. Should it be directed or without coercion?
But policy is so much more than preparing billions. The disappointment of also benevolent farmers after the talks with mediator Remkes was audible. There is a lack of trust, but overcoming it takes more than mutual listening and understanding. Farmers – and not just them – need clarity, the proverbial dot on the horizon. That is Staghouwer’s assignment, it should be at the top of his to do list.
Where will agriculture and nature in the Netherlands be in five years, in twenty years, in fifty? In a country where space is scarce, the population is growing, housing has to be built, industry can be present, and also where recreation can take place? The answer ‘fewer cows and chickens, and here’s a bag of money’ is insufficient. What does the Netherlands expect to be, a country that is a river delta and wants to remain a logistics hub?
In recent decades, the interpretation has too often been left to the market. Entrepreneurship now means that a lot has to be produced, with associated consequences for nature. Upscaling as a means of survival, there is no question of a fair price for products, and experiments with other forms of agriculture are only sparsely financed.
The current problem requires a clear translation into policy, with associated money that is used effectively and efficiently. Reward not only food production, but also landscape management and recreation, and not until 2030 but for a longer period of time. Make it clear which forms of agriculture should still be allowed where and who makes the decision. Favor, preferably in a European context, farmers who do business responsibly, in line with that clearly formulated vision for the future.
Don’t just buy eight years. Nitrogen is the problem of today, but keeping the Netherlands liveable is not just about trees and insects. Water, soil quality and climate are the next tasks.
In short, come up with a multi-year vision that stimulates entrepreneurship, without constantly changing it. So that the market – banks, suppliers and supermarkets – must follow suit. An enterprising farmer can then choose his own path within the preconditions. And most importantly, get started as soon as possible.
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of August 27, 2022
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