Inside Nitrogen
AgriNL bases Action Plan on incorrect assumptions
A series of crucial assumptions in AgriNL's Action Plan are incorrect. Figures from Statistics Netherlands show that the number of quitters from 2016 is much lower than stated. This also reduces the acreage of agricultural land many times over.
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Choose the subscription that suits youOn average over the period 2016 to 2021, the annual number of quitters is 1,3% of the total and not 3%. as AgriNL mentions.
This amounts to 7.260 fewer farmers in the next ten years instead of 16.758 fewer, as mentioned. The area of agricultural land that could be released is therefore not more than 600.000 hectares, but rather approximately 260.000 hectares of land.
If you want to take a broad view and look at the number of heads of companies over 55 years old without a successor, the figure may be higher. The aforementioned category of potential stoppers has almost 16.000 companies, but the number of hectares they own is still nowhere near 600.000. According to CBS data for 2020, this concerns almost 316.000 hectares, so more than half.
Less farmland to be repurposed
This means that much less land can be repurposed and distributed for all kinds of functions. In its plan, AgriNL also assumes that farmland can be used quite easily for other functions, and then for the functions that the government prefers. Even that, viewed in the light of historical changes in land ownership, is not simply guaranteed.
To stop the number of farmers and to free up agricultural land to the extent that AgriNL has projected, measures other than natural developments and limited expropriation are needed.
Due to all the criticism from farmers' circles in recent days, more and more members are distancing themselves from AgriNL.