D66 wants a revolution in agriculture

The elections to the House of Representatives are approaching. In March 2021 we can go to the polls again. Although the campaigns have yet to start, many parties are already making their positions known. Today we highlight the agricultural themes from the party program of D66. Their bet: halving the livestock.

If D66 continues to play a role in the government after the elections, the circular agriculture of agriculture minister Schouten will be rolled out step-by-step with conviction and at full speed. Agriculture spokesman Tjeerd de Groot of D66 sees this as his mission. In doing so, he wants to rectify the mistakes made by the abolition of the milk quota. He also wants to offer farmers a good income, restore nature and protect the environment and climate.

So far, putting circular agriculture into practice has remained vague. How will D66 better shape this in the next cabinet?
"The responsible minister, who has to make many decisions on a daily basis, must not stop at a vision on paper but also actually implement it. It is also necessary to work in a systematic and step-by-step manner, gradually, that is, because the change process takes time."

How will D66 prevent that, as a result of circular agriculture in the Netherlands, cheaper, unsustainable food is imported, businesses are moved abroad and a lot of employment and income are lost?
"The House of Representatives has passed a motion of mine in which the supermarkets are instructed to make the entire range sustainable. Sustainability in the supermarkets is often still a niche, while at the same time cheap purchases are made abroad."

If that plan is successful, the agricultural sector and related activities will still shrink, because they are largely dependent on exports.
"That is a completely wrong way of thinking! The Netherlands is in any case one of the countries with the highest cost price. Export based on cost price is a dead end. Only by distinguishing yourself and producing products with added value do you promote export. An example of this is the export of infant nutrition to China in recent years. The Dutch dairy sector owes this to food safety guarantees it can offer and how cows are treated. The switch to circular agriculture requires leadership. But until now, the agricultural sector has been too focused on the preserving what one has."

D66 also wants intensive livestock farming to end, just like the Party for the Animals?
"The sustainable cycle of manure and food does indeed mean that the number of chickens and pigs in the Netherlands is halved and the number of cows decreases substantially. But that produces pig and chicken meat with the lowest possible environmental and climate impact, which is distinctive worldwide. The same goes for dairy, and the D66 election program also emphasizes that countries that want to export to the EU must meet our animal welfare and sustainability conditions."

"In addition, the Animals Act is not enforced in pig farming, in which the intrinsic values ​​of farm animals are described. The form in which pigs stand in ammonia air, give birth to a lot of piglets and whose tails are docked, does not comply with this. D66 wants that. intensive livestock farming that is contrary to the Animals Act will come to an end. In any case, the current large-scale livestock farming in the Netherlands cannot beat international competition at cost."

There is nothing in the election program about a social plan to deal with the impending reorganization of the livestock sector.
"The current government is already investing an unprecedented amount of billions in the purchase of livestock farms. So there is indeed a social plan. But it also plays a role that the farmer has become a revenue model for related companies. For example, the feed and pesticide sellers and the contractors leading the tractor demonstrations."

Don't they deserve a social plan?
"D66 has always been a party of entrepreneurship and self-reliance. I advise them to focus on circular agriculture. The feed seller can focus on residual flows such as animal feed and the pesticide industry on biological, natural control methods."

In your previous job as director of the Dutch Dairy Organization, you stimulated growth in dairy farming and the dairy sector, while D66 now advocates a substantial reduction in the number of dairy cows. Is this an example of 'whose bread one eats, whose word one speaks'?
"The dairy sector has indeed made the mistake of allowing growth to take place without it being climate neutral and sustainable. Politicians subsequently failed to link the Land-based Growth Act to land for 50% instead of 100%, as my party wanted. That had to be repaired with phosphate rights. I entered politics to fix these mistakes. Circular agriculture is the best answer. Again, doing nothing is not an option. That is a dead end anyway."

The election program advocates a revolution in agriculture and upholds the offending ruling about halving the livestock. In this time of the corona crisis, isn't it much better to seek cooperation in the agricultural sector and not to polarize even more?
"I am prepared to tell our story in front of packed houses, even if the middle finger is raised. This is the story that needs to be told in our opinion. Whether the agricultural sector is shrinking because it has lost the international battle for cost leadership, or opted for circular agriculture, which removes the contradiction between agriculture and nature. This protects the environment and the climate, but also the income of the farmer, who opts for circular agriculture. That income can be supported by European agricultural policy. Of course I understand the fear for the unknown, resulting in farmers' protests. But doing nothing is really not an option and it is my role as a politician to speak out clearly."

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