'Policy should not get in the way of craftsmanship'

Hilde Coolman is the new portfolio holder for arable farming at the NAJK. She thus follows in the footsteps of Jan Onnes, who fulfilled this role. As a young farmer, she sees arable farming as a major challenge. "We have to make sure that we don't move towards a way of farming in which policy takes over from craftsmanship."

Congratulations on your position at the NAJK, with the new cap you are facing a challenging period....
"Arable farming is indeed facing a challenging period. The sector is under pressure and I hope that in this position I can dedicate myself as much as possible to the future of all young farmers and the entire sector. With the new laws and regulations and the CAP which will start in 2023, a considerable change is taking place in the sector."

Let's get straight to the point, how do you feel about the new CAP that will be in force from 2023?
"With the disappearance of, for example, crop protection, the new CAP and policy, you are moving towards a way of farming where part of it has already been filled in in advance. As a grower, this sends you in a direction and you can no longer make certain choices yourself. new policy is at the expense of the grower's craftsmanship. This puts pressure on the grower's craftsmanship. After all, he/she has less freedom of choice. I think that's a shame and shouldn't be in my opinion."

"A grower knows his plots and crops like no other and has very good ideas. I certainly don't want to say that we shouldn't change anything about the current way of farming, but the way in which new policy is communicated and implemented can be changed. "

What do you think can and should change in order to achieve the right policy and communication?
"I hope that with my combination of practical and research experience I can be a good link to transfer knowledge. I believe that research always comes first. But we first have to do it properly and broadly and look at all aspects before you fix everything in a policy. That does not always happen. Take, for example, the field beans in the protein transition, which is now a hot item (the cultivation of field beans yields many points in the new CAP). The cultivation changes business operations, rotation and the product must also be closed off, of course, these are matters where we should not jump to conclusions in order to implement it as soon as possible.

On behalf of the NAJK, you mainly focus on earning power.
"That's right, at the NAJK, earned capital is the most important spearhead for the agricultural agreement. This applies not only to arable farming, but of course to the entire agricultural sector. also plays an important role in this. Many growers do want to change their business operations, but that must be possible in the financial picture. With the new laws and regulations, this sometimes becomes more difficult financially. The playing field with the rest of Europe is also If our policy is stricter than that of neighboring countries, but we still get the products from these countries, then you are sidelining our own agricultural sector."

Last year was quite a turbulent year in terms of cost price increases, do the price increases make up for that?
"The prices for wheat, sugar beet and other products seem good at the moment, but we will only know at the end of the journey whether that is sufficient. I don't see the cost price falling sharply again. So the price increases must also persist in the long term in order to continue to achieve a positive result."

As a grower you have little influence on that, what do you think the grower can do?  
"As arable farmers, I think we need to make a change of mind and plan more in the long term. Think, for example, of the cultivation plan, cultivation strategy, but also the purchase of inputs for the crop. With the new CAP, this will soon be inevitable."
 

Jesse Torringa

Jesse is an editor at Boerenbusiness and focuses in particular on the arable farming sector, including grain and onions. He also closely follows the fertilizer market. In addition, Jesse works on an arable farm in Groningen with seed potatoes as the main branch.

j.torringa@boerenbusiness. Nl

© 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.