Once again this week, a long-awaited manure debate was held in the Lower House. Whether this has made the solution to the problem any further is the question. The Lower House lost itself in internal bickering and responsible minister Femke Wiersma partly puts the ball in the agricultural sector's own hands. Which is not incomprehensible in itself.
However, it is a clear break with the approach of predecessor Piet Adema, who tried to micromanage everyone.
A number of national media explain this as opening the door to more manure fraud, as if more intervention by the minister himself would be a solution to all the problems that need to be addressed.
Issue, not enforce
The government, as is widely known, has become too good at issuing all kinds of laws and regulations that are rarely or never enforced. And when it comes to manure policy, the Dutch government has been taking the position for many years, also towards the European Commission, that it cannot check more than 10% of all manure cases. There are simply too few (often lower-ranked) people at the inspection services to do the job.
With only imposed policy, good implementation is difficult anyway. If the business community itself thinks along and cooperates, that is almost always better and more effective. So there is plenty of room for the G7 (joint agricultural organizations) and the dairy sector to come up with proposals.
Chain to the periphery
However, that is where the problems begin. Minister Wiersma only wants to do business with the primary sector and not with 'the periphery' (dairy and other chain parties), as various representatives of the agricultural sector have been told. That may still be manageable, but then discussions must be held between the minister and agricultural organisations. Unfortunately, there have not been many of those yet.
Paying for your own departure or not
An additional problem is that the agricultural organisations cannot agree on many points. Some are prepared to help pay for the solution of the manure problem themselves, with the help of a levy that must be set by ZuivelNL or the NZO. Others, such as Agractie, firmly reject helping to pay for their own shrinkage.
There is something to be said for that. It was not the agricultural sector that wanted to link everything to everything in the rural area in the last application for a derogation. That was done by the previous cabinet and the Dutch key players in the previous European Commission.
Finger in the wrong direction
In addition, in items sent this week The Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LVVN) once again pointed out that exceedance of the nitrate standard in groundwater by nutrients does not occur so much on livestock farms, but precisely on farms with open crops.
Now there seems to be a situation of a minister who has set manure ceilings and is busy negotiating with the European Commission about a new derogation, but who is letting things slide a bit in terms of coordination with the sector. The same also seems to be happening with her own party and faction in the House of Representatives. Wiersma and Van der Plas shook hands this week as if they suddenly saw each other again after years of no contact.
According to media reports this week, Wiersma still has several billions available for, among other things, the purchase and termination of companies, but also wants a contribution from the business community. Not everyone is in favor of that. Various parties are urging her to use more technical solutions. After all, they also help.
Agriculture Commissioner without portfolio
For Minister Wiersma, there are now more reasons to continue to visit Brussels regularly. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen may want to take a less farmer-unfriendly course in her second term, helped by new Agriculture Commissioner Chris Hansen (see photo). Nevertheless, there is every reason to keep a close eye on Von der Leyen.
Wojchiechowski warns
Outgoing agricultural commissioner Janusz Wojchiechovski expressed his fears during a visit to Romania this week that Von der Leyen wants to abolish the existing separate budget for agriculture. He is of course familiar with the internal discussions. Wojchiechowski finds the loss of a separate agricultural budget terrible. Contrary to what many ignorant people think, only 0,4% of the total gross domestic product goes to agriculture, he argues. That money must be kept separate, otherwise this last bit of agricultural money will also flow away - is the fear of the outgoing commissioner - and his successor Chris Hansen will soon be a commissioner without portfolio.