Preses LTO calls for guts and daring after nitrogen action plan

A leaked plan to buy up farmers in the Groene Hart and the Veluwe to solve the nitrogen and construction crisis in the Netherlands, last week for a lot of commotion† The plan seemed to have been written by, among others, former minister, former WUR boss, CDA prominent, adviser and arable farmer Cees Veerman. But that was not entirely true, it turned out later. But what was it really like? And what about the plan now?

The plan 'To a relaxed Netherlands' was made public on Thursday 1 July by the real authors: nitrogen professor Jan-Willem Erisman (University of Leiden) and landscape architect Berno Strootman. It does not appear to be a plan to buy out only farmers in the Veluwe and in the Groene Hart. "Almost all of the Netherlands will be next!", observes action group Agractie, which initiated the protests on the Malieveld in October 2019. 

No plan made
A publication in The Telegraph from last week does not appear to be correct either. The 'Veerman cs' plan does not only concern the strip between Rotterdam and The Hague, Arnhem and Nijkerk and the large rivers as upper and lower limits as a residential and nature park. It is correct to conclude that the plan starts in that area, to buy out the largest nitrogen-emitting farmers in order to get housing construction in the Netherlands back on track. Erisman explained this again today to Omroep Brabant, among others. But then it goes on.

It was rumored that former ZLTO chairman Hans Huijbers and former minister Cees Veerman had devised a plan to leave farmers in the North of the Netherlands and in the South out of harm's way. Not true, because those areas are also discussed in the plan, but later in the planning.

Cees Veerman involved
True, it turns out that Cees Veerman was indeed involved in the planning and wanted to push it through. It is untrue that LTO Nederland and Agractie support that plan, as suggested in the Telegraaf. They wanted to think about the private initiative 'Regie op Ruimte' of the Food Transition Coalition of chairman Willem Lageweg, former chairman of MVO Nederland.

When Lageweg and Veerman proposed the design of Strootman and Erisman as the plan that they too should support themselves, they distanced themselves from it. That explains 2 different people directly involved. That explains why last week the Transition Coalition felt it necessary to say that the 'Veerman' plan did not exist, but is just a thought of Erisman and Strootman.

confrontations
Talks led by Lageweg and Veerman have led to a number of serious confrontations. Sjaak van der Tak, chairman of LTO Nederland, confirms this. Lageweg does not shy away from that conclusion either. "There is an unfortunate concurrence of time frames in different groups, all of which have a connection with the Transition Coalition. This has created an image that is not correct, but that is difficult for those not involved to explain. What we learn from this is that we clearly We have to make sure that we want to give farmers perspective instead of uncertainty. Through our website we have already made a start on this. That is why a podcast will be released on Monday in which prominent members explain that."

Van der Tak on Thursday: "Erisman and Strootman's proposal is a document that I do not agree with, but that you can talk about. Lageweg and Veerman should not pretend it is a plan from all of us, because that is what it is. no. I made that more than clear on behalf of LTO, when it was suddenly presented to us as a plan that we had to get behind. We did that 3 weeks ago, last week and again this morning. Agractie also did that. Representatives of NAJK and Rabobank are our witnesses." 

The plan is now made public and follows the line that Agractie Nederland outlines. After a short-term approach that frees up nitrogen emissions in the center of the Netherlands for housing there, farmers in other hotspots will also have to monitor nitrogen emissions. And not only nitrogen emissions, but also a wide range of other international and national targets and agreements must be addressed: water quality, subsidence and climate agreements (which have a significant impact for Dutch dairy farmers because of the CO2 from peat meadow areas). This will also affect the Peel in Huijbers' province of North Brabant in the longer term. The proposed measures have far-reaching consequences for farmers in the Netherlands.

Prominent directors of the two most important cooperatives in the Netherlands, Royal Friesland Campina (dairy) and Cosun (beet and potatoes) are also involved in the planning process, in which Veerman and Lageweg have indeed played their part. They are resented among farmers for talking about farmers without farmers. On the farmer's talk platform bulletin board their possible motives were formulated by John Spithoven of the Nitrogen Claim Foundation. 

For farmers without farmers, 'that is impossible'
The Farmers Defense Force previously announced decentralized actions throughout the Netherlands on 7 July. Sjaak van der Tak responds: "Intimidation as the FDF has shown to Alex Datema (chairman of Boerennatuur, also involved in the consultations, ed.) in response to the ideas of Erisman and Strootman is not allowed. There is, however, very justified anger among farmers. "It threatened to be decided about them without them. That is not possible. It affects people deeply in their existence. In our zeitgeist you should be able to talk about it."

"I think so and I know that Bart Kemp from Agractie also feels the same way," continues Van der Tak. "Unfortunately I had to make that very clear yesterday morning after three weeks. We have asked the Spatial Planning Group to rectify this. There is no dictate, but a thought. I also think that tractors on the street make no sense. The public is Done with it and you will achieve nothing with it.I would like farmers in the Netherlands to have the guts and daring to talk about the thoughts of Erisman and Strootman, together with those two.I would like to talk about that together with Agractie The Netherlands, the young farmers of NAJK and all farmers' organizations in the Netherlands who want to think constructively about a farmer-citizen agreement in our collective Dutch interest, in open and informal consultation."

Emotion and justified anger
Agriculture chairman Bart Kemp responds to Van der Tak's words: "First there must be emotion and justified anger. Farmers are angry. Farmers want to make that heard and we will participate in it. On 7 July we will therefore organize an action on the Malieveld with a clear message: 'Room for the Farmer', at which a wide range of speakers from farmers' sides and politicians are present. We call on LTO chairman Sjaak van der Tak to be brave and listen to the farmers. Come on that podium in The Hague July 7!" Kemp then says: "Once that angry energy is gone and has been given its reasonable place, there may be room for constructive conversations. We should consider that. Whether it is useful to do that with the Veerman group, while there is so much difference in terms of content and tone, it remains to be seen. We have made a big mistake in the course that this group wants to take with regard to the future of farmers in the Netherlands." 

Spithoven says that he thinks that "unity among farmers must be restored and peasant democracy must be able to function again." When asked whether he will tolerate this with Van der Tak as facilitator, he answers with a clear 'Yes'. Van der Tak responds: "I mainly want to work together by connecting farmers and in turn connecting them with the Netherlands as a whole." In the strongly divided farmland and the divergent interests between farmers and the public, realizing that ambition in 2021 would be a breakthrough.

This article is part of the content collaboration between Boerenbusiness en foodlog.

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