Background nitrogen mood
Von der Leyen inspires Van der Plas, not Holman
The House of Representatives is not only the most important political forum in the country, it is also often a source of linguistic innovation and creative reasoning, however inimitable at times. The so-called two-minute debate on manure policy produced a few beautiful stylistic flourishes this week.
BBB faction chairwoman Caroline van der Plas showed herself inspired by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, even though she has doubts about the latter's Re-arm Europe plan. Van der Plas wants a parallel Re-farm Europe plan. Apart from the SGP, she did not receive many spontaneous applause for this.
Not even with ex-farmer Harm Holman, who seems to want fewer farmers rather than more. Following a motion by Holman, Minister Wiersma was no longer certain whether the NSC member still considered himself bound to the main points agreement on forced shrinkage. Holman wants to impose additional restrictions on manure disposal and use via a complicated motion.
Apology for manure production
The former dairy farmer and former FrieslandCampina director seems to be increasingly allergic to manure. That manure can be necessary to also guarantee some food security is therefore completely lost on him. According to Holman, 'food security should not be used as an excuse for manure production'. It sounded like a thought, but SGP member André Flach – who is not a farmer at all – felt called upon to stand up for the farmers.
No format for Renure yet
It is still the case that there is a major manure disposal problem, due to the sharply reduced production ceilings. The European Nitrate Committee, which met again earlier this week in Brussels, unfortunately failed again to find a format to use manure as a substitute for artificial fertilizer. The representatives of Germany in particular (still from the old government) and France blocked a solution.
Mandatory in the pasture
In another motion by Holman – about mandatory grazing – Minister Wiersma wondered whether the NSC member had thought about it. Because with mandatory grazing, the dairy industry is completely out of the picture when it comes to rewarding it, and the opposite of what Holman intends is probably achieved. Unless government money is made available.
Evaluation with one eye closed
In agricultural debates, members of parliament often seem to ask themselves few questions about who is going to pay for their wishes. The government and policymakers also regularly go the extra mile. A random example in the past week is the Ecological evaluation of agricultural nature and landscape policy, from Wageningen ER. The article reads like a pathetic list of everything that is wrong with this policy, especially where meadow birds are concerned. It is therefore a study with one eye closed. The meadow bird policy is not succeeding, but the effect of predation has hardly been considered. Also, almost only agricultural nature reserves are considered, not ordinary nature and agricultural areas or their interaction, and not a single word is devoted to money. It is nice material for a carefree debate, but not for a good policy assessment.
'BBB more dangerous than wolf'
In addition to the debate in the main hall of the House of Representatives, there was also further discussion in a back room about nitrogen and manure. Bouwend Nederland, Agractie, MOB and Jan Willem Erisman were first allowed to give their vision on a possible solution, but it did not bring much news. Bouwend Nederland chairman Arno Visser (VVD) suddenly appeared to have a lot of knowledge about agriculture and presented a plan that until recently also NZO'ers and LTO'ers had helped to think about. It has many characteristics of the intentions of Rutte IV. The two organizations mentioned have recently distanced themselves further from this. The other speakers did not bring any surprises, except for Johan Vollenbroek of MOB. At the end of his speech he felt that he had to say something about the recent wolf debate in the House of Representatives, namely 'that the BBB is a greater danger to the Netherlands than the wolf'.
Wiersma on X
However, Vollenbroek's voice does not currently reach the Schoof Commission. The real direction for nitrogen policy is currently being set in the said commission. Last week, Minister Wiersma sent an X-plate of a seat. There were many civil servants and scientists at the table, plus surprisingly: one representative from agriculture, although not from LTO. According to Wiersma, it will take a few months before the committee comes up with a final product.
Klaas van der Horst
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