Small chance that mandatory grazing will come

Although CDA member Jaco Geurts tweeted that he finds a majority in parliament for compulsory outdoor grazing bizarre, the chance that it will actually come to that point is small. During the first term of the Initiative Memorandum on grazing, a lot of uncertainty arose about the attitude of the parties that should ensure a parliamentary majority.

D66, one of the initiators of compulsory outdoor grazing, wonders whether mandatory outdoor grazing is not better and sees the free-range barn as standard. The party also struggles with the balance between obligations and free enterprise. But spokesperson Judith Swinkels emphasized that she supports the Initiative Memorandum. The PvdA is also in favor. The replacement for Sjoera Dikkers, Rien van der Velden from Emmeloord, does wonder whether compulsory grazing leads to the 'nature-inclusive agriculture' desired by the PvdA, whereby biodiversity is safeguarded. In some areas of the Netherlands, compulsory outdoor grazing can be counterproductive, such as in the Noordoostpolder, fears the new Member of Parliament. He led the agricultural knowledge center in Emmeloord and was a member of the city council for the PvdA for many years.

Nevertheless, Van der Velden has no problem at all with the fact that his political group position goes against the government's position, which rejects the initiative memorandum. “It's election time. Mandatory grazing is in our election manifesto. Then it would be very strange if we don't support this.' The vote of the PVV can be decisive, assuming that the ChristenUnie does not support compulsory grazing. This party was absent from the deliberations, as was the SGP. Animal advocate Dion Graus gave the impression that he was not in favor of the Initiative Memorandum. He almost threw himself into MP Esther Ouwehand (PvdD) when she wondered aloud whether Graus is really that stupid, or whether he is acting stupid. If the PVV (15 seats) withholds its support for the initiative memorandum, a parliamentary majority is unthinkable. Ouwehand accuses the PVV of having contributed to the rapid scaling up of dairy farming.

During the discussion in the first term, which is intended to give the Initiative Memorandum as much depth as possible, the farms that automatically milk, as well as the landless farms, were also discussed. The Initiative Memorandum aims to grant completely landless companies an exemption, but at the same time deprives them of the opportunity to expand. D66 discussed the weather conditions and the soil condition, which can cause problems with mandatory grazing. Compliance control was also discussed. 'Now that is being done by the dairy industry. The government should soon be doing that. Who's going to pay for that? The farmer for sure.'

CDA and VVD emphasized the LTO position, which encourages outdoor grazing but is not obligatory. The proponents of compulsory outdoor grazing are undermining the revenue model that has been created in recent years for less large-scale family businesses when they give their livestock grazing. 'Will the government pay 170 million euros per year if outdoor grazing is made compulsory? That amount was paid out last year for grazing by the dairy industry.' Department chair Cees Romijn of LTO points to the positive effect of the Grazing Agreement, which was concluded to avoid compulsory grazing. 'Thanks to the Agreement on grazing that the sector has initiated, a decrease in grazing has occurred such as in Denmark. Without the Covenant we might now be only at 50 percent. Despite the rapid increase in scale, the percentage of grazing has stabilized. That is a huge achievement.'

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