Land: the capital of the agricultural sector

Soil fertility is the capital of dairy farmers and arable farmers. This is what Cees Veerman, former Minister of Agriculture, said at the 2018 Agricultural Congress. Veerman thus ties in with the work of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV), which expects to come up with a soil plan within 1 month.

The Agricultural Congress was dominated by topics such as sustainability and nature-inclusive agriculture. "Sustainability can be translated as being more economical," says Veerman. "Nature-inclusive can be translated as working with nature." However, it should not be forgotten that agriculture is also an economic activity. Johannes Kramer, deputy for the province of Friesland, emphasized this at the start of the congress.

'A special activity'
Veerman also believes that agriculture is an economic activity, but should be described as an "extraordinary economic activity". Veerman claims this because agriculture is tied to nature. "Many other economic activities can be produced in a factory, but that is not the case with agriculture."

Critical words are also being expressed towards the bank that wants to feed the world. In addition, scaling up is no longer preferred in favor of exports. Veerman: "You have to ask yourself whether this does not get stuck. The consumer asks for a relationship with the animal, but is that still possible with, for example, 1.000 cows? Nature and agriculture must find each other again and that also applies to farmers and citizens ."

Land is capital
Veerman also emphasizes that soil fertility is the capital of many dairy farmers and arable farmers. Something about which recent developments are increasingly concerned. It also appears to be the case with Carola Schouten, Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. According to an employee of the ministry, a letter to the House of Representatives is expected within 1 month with a soil plan/strategy.

How much cattle can be kept on that land is a new discussion. At the end of the month, there must also be an opinion on this via the land-related committee.

Herman van den Pol

Herma van den Pol has been with us since 2011 Boerenbusiness and has developed over the years into a market expert Milk & Feed. In addition, she can be seen weekly in the market flash about the dairy market.

h.vandenpol@boerenbusiness. Nl

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