Schouten: 'Changes are not always bad'

A Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was drawn up for the first time in 1962. However, the world of then is no longer the world of today. And so it is time for change. "The new CAP is packed with ambitions. And yes, changes will certainly come, but changes are not always bad," Agriculture Minister Schouten said during the online conference 'I'm in' about the reform of the CAP. According to Schouten, it is important in the new CAP that farmers will finally be rewarded for their social services. 

"Farmers now often say that they would like to do things differently, but that the barrier is that they then get nothing in return," Schouten continues. "In the new agricultural policy, there are suddenly considerably more options for this with the eco schemes." Based on these eco-schemes, each country can independently determine which sustainability measures yield subsidies and exactly how much. In the Netherlands, according to Schouten, we should think, for example, of agricultural nature management and meadow birds. "You can choose what suits your business operations."

'Collaboration is the most important'
The ministry cannot arrange all this itself, but also needs the farmer for this. "That is why we are happy with these types of meetings. Here we also listen to the wishes of farmers," says Guid Landheer, Deputy Director General for Agriculture at the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. "After all, we also want the farmers who farm now to be able and willing to continue farming in the future." According to Landheer, new revenue models are one of the solutions for this. For example, a shorter chain should be considered.

Schouten agrees: "We must look together at how we can make agreements that are workable for all parties: from the ministry and the provinces to the farmers and, for example, the water boards." Schouten reports that it is important that the ministry takes even more account of the dilemmas they pose on the farm. "If something is good for animal welfare, is it also good for the environment? The farmer should not have to answer those questions. There are other agencies for that."

In this way, the ministry may also hope to remove the negative future prospects of young agricultural entrepreneurs. "For example, a strong fight must be made to continue the Young Farmers scheme," says Landheer. "But it is also important to realize that you really want to become more sustainable. You don't have to become more sustainable to get a subsidy, but you have to get a subsidy because you really want to do something different."

Red tape
Three farmers reported during the meeting that most of their time and money was now spent on administrative hassle. They want to know how the ministry will approach this. "It is difficult to find a good solution for this. As a ministry of agriculture, we would like to work on the basis of trust, but many accounting firms and also the Court of Audit then dig in their heels," says Landheer.

Schouten is therefore looking at the possibilities of a simpler manure system: "Simplification is also a way to reduce all that hassle. But I am not yet at the point where I can make more statements about that." However, when asked whether land-based farmers can be exempted from all administrative burdens surrounding the Fertilizers Act, both are clear. "An exemption seems to us to be a bit too much and would be very complicated," says Schouten.

This is the second article in the series about the new Common Agricultural Policy. In the third article, which will be published on December 18, we zoom in on future-oriented farming and the wishes of the ministry and the farmer. View all articles about the CAP here.