News advocacy
Purchase from nature is for NMV declaration of war
Outgoing agriculture minister Carola Schouten goes a long way from a legal point of view with the new Provincial Purchase Scheme for Livestock Farms, believes interim chairman Henk Bleker of the dairy farmers' union NMV. According to the association of livestock farmers, the scheme demands things that cannot be asked of any citizen.
Bleacher notices a kind of 'Berufsverbot' for livestock farmers† He thinks that such a thing will not stand up in court, especially not in the European Court of Human Rights.
The scheme is intended to reduce nitrogen emissions near nature reserves. First of all, the NMV thinks that this will not work, because after buying livestock farms, the desired nature will not develop automatically in the designated place as intended. It is a kind of symbolic policy, the union believes.
Government makes illegal demand
The scheme itself now contains a number of indigestible elements for farmers, it is stated. Farmers to be bought out are required to 'definitely end the livestock farming activities' in nature reserves. In addition, it is also claimed that a bought-out farmer may not establish or take over a livestock farm elsewhere in the Netherlands. The first requirement is actually very broad and vague and can therefore have unintended and unwanted side effects. According to Bleker, the second requirement is even illegal. The NMV has not yet consulted a lawyer, but according to Bleker this is an abuse of power and this case is definitely worth a trial trial. "With the buyout, the purpose of the scheme has been achieved, with the demanded ban on professional practice being over questioned."
Questions about area processes
Bleker also has major questions about area processes, which involve buying out companies and redesigning areas. "In the past, there were rules for this through the land development. Then there was a committee with an independent chairman. The Wild West will soon be regulated as no more than is now proposed."
"As a dairy farmers' union, we will oppose this with everything in us," Bleker promises. The press release of the NMV further states: "The professional ban is an inhumane demand. It is a shocking and unheard of plan by a government that has completely lost its way. Even if we have to go to the European Court of Human Rights ... Who sow the wind will reap the storm. If the government wants 'war', at this point the government can have 'war'."
Klaas van der Horst
© 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.
