Background Nitrogen mood
Unrest about peak loaders and nitrogen around holidays
From a material point of view, relatively little has been happening with regard to the nitrogen dossier for about three years now, but the issue continues to cause flare-ups of emotions and psychological warfare. So the Christmas peace also had to die for those who are involved in this file. For example, there was LTO chairman Sjaak van der Tak who indicated in an interview in members' magazine Nieuwe Oogst that he now wanted to put all the squabbling with the government behind him. Don't always say no, but also like to say yes. According to him, it is time to come to terms with the government about the nitrogen dossier.
Remarkably, Van der Tak did not make it clear what he wanted to say yes to, or what had been bothering him all this time. Judging by the reactions on social media (perhaps not always the best indicator, but yes, how else to gauge during holidays), many farmers, and also colleagues from other agricultural organizations, choked on their Christmas meal when they heard this. On behalf of LTO, does Van der Tak only want an agreement with the cabinet via a flight forward? Does he want to negotiate anything?
Flight forward
LNV ministers Christianne van der Wal and Piet Adema may be happy. The negotiations on a broad agricultural (and nitrogen) agreement need to be conducted with fewer parties. One already seems to be inside. It is more likely that Van der Tak, with his words, has rather ensured that he achieves the opposite of what he says he wants.
impatient advisors
It may be that the LTO chairman looks around and sees that the whole machinery to stop and buy up farms is getting more and more rigged. Provinces, such as North Brabant and Gelderland, are making their plans more and more concrete, spreading zoning maps around and helping to ensure that all kinds of consultancy firms can also warm up. In the meantime, their impatience has also spoiled the Christmas season for a number of farmer families.
For example, DLV Advies, which also advises the province of Gelderland, already sent letters to companies that it had identified as likely peak taxers and therefore potential stoppers. To prepare them for the inevitable. While a number of those farmers had not yet heard that from the government. Minister Van der Wal has also still not given a clear description of what peak loaders are.
Now the whole buy-out problem is also a big, broad rack for all kinds of consultancy firms, such as the Aerius instrument, and turnover is turnover, or so the idea seems to be.
Who works for the farmer?
But what is agriculture doing right now? Giving in to the wishes of the government, while simply maintaining the entire set of instruments with which agricultural companies are increasingly tightened (and often on dubious grounds), does not seem to be the best choice. And if companies do want to stop or move, who do they seek advice from: the agency that listens to what the farmer wants or another party?
In Flanders, where agriculture is in a similar situation as in the Netherlands, complete with comparable legislation and underlying payment methods (taken over from the Netherlands), Piet Vanthemse (former chairman of the Boerenbond) visits companies in the Belgian Kempen to encourage them to buy up through the Agency for Nature and Forest. In the Netherlands, the ties between LTO and the government are not yet that warm, but LTO is also a consensus party by the nature of the organization, which prefers to work together and reach an agreement rather than fight out a conflict (the latter can be very business-like and union-like). The question is whether that still fits in with how many companies now look at the government.
Klaas van der Horst
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