'It is also rumbling in the margin'

Minister Carola Schouten (Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality) announced on Tuesday 23 January that a group of dairy farmers is suspected of tampering with the registration of their livestock. The consequences of this potentially large-scale fraud affect the entire sector.

"It makes me especially angry, sad and insecure", says dairy farmer Heleen Lansink from Haaksbergen (Overijssel). "This is harmful to the entire sector." According to Lansink, dairy farmers often want big, bigger, biggest. Lansink believes that dairy farmers should stop looking for the edges. "As a dairy farmer, you are now challenged to push the boundaries, partly due to stricter regulations. However, this is not a path that we should follow. I would like to start the conversation and connect society, but trust is running out quite a dent."

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According to Lansink, Schouten must act hard. Lansink thinks that the pilot for the Kringloopwijzer is not going ahead as a good example of this. "Perhaps the subsidies for these farmers should be stopped. Perhaps milk should no longer be collected. Then you become a dairy farmer."

'Do not stop the Circular Pointer pilot'
Dairy farmer Erik van Grinsven from Sint-Michielsgestel (North Brabant) also thinks it is a pity and harmful to the sector. Van Grinsven also thinks that Schouten should take firm action, but does not think that the pilot of the Kringloopwijzer should be stopped. "It is a fair system, in which you are judged on the amount of phosphate you actually produce. Companies that do not commit fraud should therefore be able to continue with the pilot."

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Show entrepreneurship
Pieter Koonstra, dairy farmer from Vinkenbuurt (Overijssel), believes that the news about fraud puts the sector in a bad light. "With this you do not show entrepreneurship and it is also rumbling in the margins." Koonstra believes that the benefit for the individual company is disproportionate to the damage for the entire sector. "We need to join forces for people who are doing well." 

He does not accept that farmers deliberately commit fraud. "I think that fraudulent dairy farmers should pay back the benefit threefold. As far as I'm concerned, there are no mitigating circumstances."

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Vprimal for other parties
Gerard Stam has a dairy farm in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel (North Holland). Stam was surprised when he heard about the possible cattle fraud. He was particularly surprised by the scale at which this took place. "Of course it remains to be seen how large the group of cheating farmers actually is. In any case, it is harmful to the entire sector. Think of the derogation, it is at risk."

Stam suspects that the farmers who may have committed fraud had their backs against the wall. "It turns out that a cat in a corner makes strange jumps. It is a shame, because other dairy farmers are the victims of this. It is not smart, you can wait for something like this to come true. Moreover, this food is for parties such as animal protection."

Stam believes that Schouten should clearly distance himself from this group of farmers and get to the bottom of what exactly is going on. "The advantage that these companies have had must in any case be negated. However, the fine must be in proportion to the offense committed," Stam believes.

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