BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB) wants the Netherlands to have a Right to Agriculture law. This law should better guarantee the existence of farmers and horticulturists and better protect farmers. When BBB is elected to the House of Representatives in March 2021, the party wants to submit such a bill as soon as possible.
Co-initiator Caroline van der Plas announced this on Wednesday afternoon 16 October in Fooddock in Deventer during the launch of the BoerBurgerBoek. This is a book with 21 personal stories from farmers, horticulturists and a North Sea fisherman about food production. Writer, presenter and columnist Özcan Akyol was presented with the first copy.
A Law on the Right to Agriculture must guarantee the existence of the agricultural sector in the Netherlands. “Such a law can, for example, prevent people and organizations that have no direct interest in expanding or modernizing legally permitted farms from conducting years of proceedings against farmers just because they want to get rid of the livestock sector,” says Van der Plas.
Stricter approach to extremists
The law also aims to strengthen the legitimacy of agricultural interests and defend farmers' rights. According to BBB, it also offers broader possibilities to tackle animal extremists who are guilty of burglary, stable occupation, intimidation, threats to farmers or other illegal actions. The law must also include new criminal offenses such as 'instigating' or 'causing' stable occupation, animal liberation or intimidation of livestock farmers. BBB also wants to criminalize material damage and animal liberation. “Similar laws already exist in Australia and America. As far as we are concerned, the Netherlands will be the first country in Europe to get such a law.”
better education
BBB will also focus on better education. The party wants textbooks and teaching packages, which contain incorrect or suggestive information about the agricultural sector, to be adjusted or disappear. “People should actually be informed about agriculture and horticulture and should be able to base their judgment on that. For example, children are still learning at school that there are battery cages in the Netherlands and that there are still crated calves. This information is incorrect and should be removed from the teaching materials.”
BBB also wants mandatory food education in schools, with farm education as a permanent component. “We are convinced that if children learn the value of food at an early age, they will also appreciate the product and the people who make their food more later in life. This can have a positive effect on the food choices they make, the price they are willing to pay for food and on combating food waste. In addition, more students than is currently the case may opt for an agricultural education. In this way we keep the knowledge about agriculture and horticulture in the Netherlands and agricultural educational institutions also keep their right to exist.”
Fair prices
BBB will also strive to gain more appreciation for the efforts of farmers and horticulturists in the field of environmental and animal welfare and will promote a good revenue model for efforts that exceed the statutory requirements. “We are not against new legislation and regulations, but we are if the farmer and horticulturist – as is often the case now – have to pay for all the costs. We are sure that citizens are quite willing to pay more for their food. However, they get no incentive. It is now too easily said by supermarkets that there is no money on top of the price, because the consumer 'wouldn't want that', but nobody has yet tried to achieve this. We will. This can be done, for example, through a meat tax, but on the condition that the tax directly benefits the farmers.”
BBB will actively strive to break through the purchasing power of the retailers in order to enable healthy business operations, with a fair price, for farmers and horticulturists. In Germany, for example, they know the Tierwohl Initiative. Supermarkets contribute to the extra measures that farmers take for more animal welfare, animal health or environmental measures. “Why is that not possible in the Netherlands? We will take the initiative to bring retailers around the table with the sector and will do everything in our power to introduce such a model, or something similar, in the Netherlands. Politicians are taking it too easy now. Everyone talks about a fair price, but no one actually follows through.”
Two seats
BBB is currently in the process of being established as a political party and will present a list of candidates and an election manifesto in early 2020. A minimum of two seats in the House of Representatives is expected. “Half a million people in the Netherlands are directly and indirectly dependent on the agricultural sector. There is great voter potential there. But we also focus specifically on the citizens of the city and on the millions of people who live in the countryside. Without farmers in the Netherlands, we have a problem in many areas: Employment, the economy, landscape management, nature management, quality of life in the countryside and of course the production of good, safe, sustainable, affordable and always available food. Farmers are an indispensable link in everyone's life. The recent farmer protests and the massive support from society have strengthened us in the idea that there is a place in The Hague for a party like BBB.”