'Dairy farming needs a two-stream policy'

Different dairy farmers have different business situations. In this summer series, a number of them explain how they view the elaboration of current legislation and regulations, and how they intend to deal with this in their business operations in the coming years. This time the floor is given to land-based dairy farmer Gerard Stam (50) from Ouderkerk aan de Amstel.

How has your company developed in recent years?
"I now have 35,5 hectares in use and I milk about 50 cows. I also keep 20 young cattle. This is a little more than a few years ago. We then realized a new barn for 70 dairy cows, with the intention of gradually filling it up. However, the costs of the milk quota did not decrease (as was expected) and this growth was subsequently postponed until after the quota was abolished. Until then I worked part-time outside the home and helped my father. That is no longer the case and I have been working fully on the farm for 2 years now."

"Partly on the basis of the LTO vision from 2013, in which land-relatedness was promoted, we invested extra in land after the quota was abolished and let the livestock grow slowly from our own growth. Shortly before the infamous reference date, another 4,5 hectares purchased land, so that the company was nicely in balance with stable space and land. We thought we could move forward in the first years. That slow growth is now breaking us down. Due to the phosphate rights system, I have only been allocated rights for 48,5 LU based on of the number of animals present on 2 July 2015."

What problems does that cause?
"At the moment I am struggling with a large roughage surplus. That will only increase if we are not allowed to keep extra rights. I will have to buy or lease those phosphate rights later, or I will still be designated as a bottleneck. Within the new worthless bottleneck scheme, that will be nothing, but I will participate in the proceedings that will be brought before the judge in August. Hopefully the court will rule in my favor and many colleagues. cases, compensation of up to 50% will be awarded."

"The motivation is that this outcome was foreseeable and is therefore actually your own fault. To label it as an entrepreneurial risk and you must be able to absorb this with your own financial buffers. The problem is that this does not apply to the group with a In my opinion, that group should bear more of the pain, because they are also the cause. This will of course result in a higher generic discount of 1 to 2%. However, this is not negotiable and 'entrepreneurial risk' suddenly does not apply. While a discount of 10% is a lot easier to absorb than when it comes to, for example, 40% understaffing, as will now be the case with me. so simply locked. Phosphate rights are or are becoming expensive and are therefore not so easy and quick to finance for someone with a company like mine. After all, the costs of purchasing land and the stable are also there."

Do you think that the legislation and regulations surrounding phosphate rights should be revised?
"I am indeed arguing for that. Not only myself, but many colleagues with me. Especially from the 'Thorough' network, to which I am also a member. Based on this collaboration, we propose to apply a two-track policy. More intensive dairy farmers retain their space, but accept stricter rules. Due to their efforts to scale up, they can also create a high cash flow more easily than land-bound farmers. Our category is therefore exempt from many discounts and regulations. The current regulations are mainly aimed at regulating and producing more sustainably "But land-based agriculture is already the most sustainable way of producing, so it doesn't add anything extra. Such a two-track policy can take away a lot of the pain. As a farmer you are then free to choose which track you follow."

How do you expect and hope that your company will be in 5 years' time?
"I hope that the barn will be fully utilized in 5 years' time. And that the legislation has been converted into a soil-related standard. That is more logical and convenient. Don't get me wrong, I don't directly blame my intensive colleagues. I lived and farmed in Brabant , then I would probably have developed my company differently than I have now. And I also understand that intensive farming is difficult to quickly convert to soil-bound."

"Now, however, all farmers are being lumped together and government policy too, while that is completely at odds with the diversity within the sector. I blame LTO, which suddenly changed course. The result is that dairy farmers are now diametrically opposed to each other. and unnecessary."

How do you anticipate the future with your own company?
"Together with a number of colleagues in the area, we are working on a project to market dairy products ourselves. This is based on a nature-inclusive way of working, with an extra focus on preserving meadow birds. We are close to many urban areas and hope that there will be enough buyers with purchasing power. to bind us."

"An important advantage is that we work together with FrieslandCampina, our current processor. Normally, as a cooperative member, you cannot process part of your milk pool differently, but they want to allow us within a pilot to process up to 30% of the milk pool ourselves. into products for the local market. What this actually yields is coffee grounds. A project like this is also something that takes a long time and I expect it to take about 5 years before we really have it running. But it is exciting to to work and I also consider it promising."

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