What's in store for this eventful farmer's week?

Normally, the dark days before Christmas are relatively calm for the agricultural sector in the Netherlands. Definitely not this year. The week before Christmas promises to be an eventful farmer's week if all expectations are fulfilled. We list the most important developments chronologically.

1. Agriculture Collective consults with Rutte and Schouten
The Agricultural Collective, the association of farmers' organizations, will consult with Prime Minister Rutte and Agriculture Minister Carola Schouten on Monday morning, December 16, about solutions for the nitrogen crisis. This comes in the form of breakfast† According to Aalt Dijkhuizen, chairman of the Agricultural Collective, this is not a catch-up session. He wants butter with the fish and wishes from the ministers to take over the nitrogen plan from the Agricultural Collective. 

Update: Dijkhuizen says that a good foundation has been laid in the conversation.

2. Verdict Mesdag Dairy Fund versus RIVM
Last Friday, December 13, preliminary relief proceedings were filed by the Mesdag Dairy Fund and Nitrogen Claim foundations against the State and RIVM. The aim of the lawsuit is that the foundations want all available data from RIVM on nitrogen emissions in the Netherlands. Strikingly enough, it soon became apparent at the hearing that RIVM also wants to make all data available† However, the question is when. Mesdag Dairy Fund and Nitrogen Claim want to have the dataset immediately (with a view to the Nitrogen Emergency Act, see below), RIVM thinks it will only be able to do this in January 2020.

Update: the verdict has now been announced and can be read here.

3. CBL summary proceedings against Farmers Defense Force
Monday morning December 16 also serves the summary proceedings of the CBL, the trade association of the Dutch supermarkets, against Farmers Defense Force (FDF). The CBL wants to get it done in advance in court that the farmers will not block the distribution centers of the supermarkets on Wednesday 18 December. That is disastrous for the supply of the supermarkets in the run-up to Christmas, the CBL reasons. The verdict in these preliminary relief proceedings is expected on Tuesday 17 December.

Update: FDF calls blocking distribution centers supers 'fake news'.

4. Agricultural and horticultural income figures in 2019
Wageningen Economic Research, the former LEI, and Statistics Netherlands will present the income figures of Dutch agriculture and horticulture on Monday afternoon, December 16. This presentation always takes place in mid-December. Normally not a shocking event, but the timing is special in the current constellation. The farmer's income position is also central to the farmer's campaigns. The results of the income calculations can therefore influence public opinion.

5. Treatment of the Emergency Nitrogen Act in the Senate
The Emergency Nitrogen Act will be discussed in the Senate on Tuesday 17 December. The coalition led by Prime Minister Rutte does not have a majority there. He has been lobbying feverishly for the past few days to get the bill through the Senate. That now seems to help Rutte gain a majority† The emergency law will, among other things, impose all kinds of requirements on compound feed and roughage (including the crude protein content) on livestock farms in order to limit nitrogen emissions. The law will therefore have an impact on livestock farmers.

6. FrieslandCampina District Council Meeting
On Tuesday 17 December FrieslandCampina will hold a meeting of the district councils. A number of proposals will be decided on there. This includes the Milk Money Regulations 2020, which include adjustments to the calculation of the guaranteed price. This plan is at member meetings iCracked by members in the second half of October† A group of Concerned Farmers also wrote in a letter set a series of demands on the board of FrieslandCampina and asked the other member dairy farms to co-sign this letter.

7. Farmers Defense Force National Day of Action of the Year
The day of action of Farmers Defense Force (FDF) is planned for Wednesday 18 December. 'The whole of the Netherlands is going down,' the farmers' organization announced. In recent days, the followers of the chat groups via the Telegram app have been regularly addressed through extensive manifestos by, among others, chairman Mark van den Oever and Sieta van Keimpema to encourage them to participate. 

FDF's plans are still completely unclear. The fact is that groups of farmers with approximately 50 tractors are formed all over the Netherlands. The aim of FDF is to be able to launch actions in every province on Wednesday. A preview The province of Noord-Brabant was shown on Friday with the short-lived blockade of Eindhoven Airport. This took place after a meeting of the Provincial Council in Den Bosch, where FDF chairman Mark van den Oever made the national media by comparing the current position of the farmer with that of persecuting population groups such as Jews in World War II. FDF later indicated that it regretted some of these statements.

Blocking distribution centers of supermarkets seems a logical goal on Wednesday, because Van den Oever previously hinted in a message to his followers that he wanted to block the food supply in the Netherlands. It remains to be seen whether the judge will stop this. The opinions of legal scholars differ on this. In any case, the action in Eindhoven made it clear on Friday that logistics processes can be disrupted quickly with relatively few tractors.

8. General Consultation Nitrogen Problems
A General Consultation on the Nitrogen problem is planned for Wednesday afternoon, December 18, in the House of Representatives. Among other things, the policy rules of the provinces are on the agenda and therefore also the latent space. The cabinet still plans to take up latent nitrogen space from livestock farms when applying for a new permit. Undoubtedly, all six developments described above will also be discussed in the AO.

© DCA Market Intelligence. This market information is subject to copyright. It is not permitted to reproduce, distribute, disseminate or make the content available to third parties for compensation, in any form, without the express written permission of DCA Market Intelligence.