News Agrifirm Youth Day
Minister Staghouwer takes 'perspective' from the name of the letter
The perspective letter has been completed, is ready and is now called the September letter. Agriculture Minister Henk Staghouwer told this at the Agrifirm Youth Day in Apeldoorn, where he received a report containing technological innovations for the agricultural sector. Perspective is the keyword of the morning and something many of the young people present are asking for.
“There is an unbelievable amount placed on my shoulders. And I'm expected to save the future of the agricultural sector. Of course I won't, that is also implied in the word perspective. I want to outline clear lines in my letter along which the future of the farmer can take place, along which the entrepreneur can make his own choices. What it needs to get there. The word perspective is not quite fortunately chosen. The future lines that must be clearly defined, including the impossibilities'', said Staghouwer in the wings of Theater Orpheus.
Staghouwer said earlier to the gathered young farmers: ''A large number of things come to the farm and the cooperatives. Everyone in the chain must contribute to the farmer's earning capacity. And some links still think too much from their own wallet. That is why it is so important that chain partners such as the supermarkets also enter into discussions; not just pointing it at the consumer and perhaps letting some of the margin flow back to the farm. Entrepreneurs have to be in the driver's seat and farmers currently have too little control over input and output. Hence the pressure on the chains.”
Staghouwer cannot guarantee anything
According to the minister, it is not the government's goal to halve the livestock. Just as little as the objective is to reduce the number of farmers by 50%. However, he admits that he cannot give any guarantees for the future, something that the public present fervently hopes for. Nor can he guarantee that companies will keep their value. "I can't guarantee that a home will hold its value."
Staghouwer says several times that he is not the thousand-things cloth that is sometimes asked for. ''The September letter does not contain all solutions for the future of agriculture. I need to be able to tell the honest story and be clear and clear about what the future is and how we can achieve it.”
To achieve that future, Staghouwer is prepared to make regulations supportive rather than controlling in order to alleviate a stress factor for farmers. The minister held out his hand on the podium to the young farmers present, but made it clear to them several times that they will sometimes have to do it themselves.
Max van der Heyden
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