'Most farmers are purely producers'

"The government must give farmers more room to maneuver and impose less restrictive rules. Only then can the transition be successfully continued", argues Marten Dijkstra, who followed a Nuffield Scholarship and presented the results of his associated research at his company on Thursday 26 September.

Dijkstra is an organic dairy farmer in Aldeboarn (Friesland) and also a member of parliament for VVD in Friesland. In the past 2 years he traveled around the world with a Nuffield Scholarship for 12 weeks. He spoke to farmers on several continents and under different circumstances. He deduced from the findings that the revenue model must return to the farmyard. The revenue model is now 'outsourced' via the large sales organisations, whether cooperatively or privately. "That has to change in order to keep a future as farmers in the Netherlands," he says. "Help from governments is indispensable for this."

Successfully bringing a revenue model back to the farm. That sounds nice, but how do you realize that?
"Through my trip I gained insight into that farmers who diversify have a better chance of a good income. This can be done by broadening with nature management, offering day care or deepening it. This means that you individually or as a group become the owner of the chain by putting products with added value on the market. It's all about adding value anyway. Now farmers deliver their uniform products to a sales organization and that manages with that. The farmer has no leg to stand on; no negotiating position. By broadening or deepening, you add value and change that. As a farmer, you have to be the market master yourself. Most of us are now purely producers."

There are countless examples of well-intentioned farmers who try to do this, but do not succeed. How would that work in the coming years?
"Plans and initiatives often fail because there are far too many restrictive laws and regulations. For example, if I create sales for approximately 200 liters of raw milk per day, for €1,50 per litre, then that is certainly an interesting revenue model. is not working now, because the legislator is afraid of all kinds of possible problems from raw milk. want to bring, demotivated. The government wrongly mistrusts the market. After all, as a farmer I will ensure that the product is safe and trusted. Otherwise I will immediately lose my customers."

What can and should governments do more and specifically?
"In addition to reducing restrictive legislation and regulations, the tax system must also change. In the Netherlands, faster repayments involve a fine. Anyone who pays off properly and withdraws private money creates a high tax claim in good years. Investments are made to prevent this. This encourages intensification and upscaling. Subsequently, the companies are less financially healthy and the farmer remains trapped in this vicious circle. Farmers must be exempted from tax up to a certain level of equity. and expand away, creating space to invest in healthy business models that benefit the environment.”

"I am advocating for revolving funds at the provincial level, filled with private and provincial money, to offer lateral entrants a chance to become farmers on a closing farm. Agriculture today suffers from the companies being too capital intensive. Quitting companies are taken over by neighbors who grow bigger as a result, but they never see the income grow.Creating funds to help the side-entry workers breaks the business model and strengthens the chances of a successful transition of agriculture in the coming decades ."

Do farmers and governments want to change this?
“Every farmer has to steer his or her own course, but I am convinced that many farmers would like to move towards a model in which they have more influence on their income. They are often trapped in the business model, with the accompanying high financing. That is why there is time needed for this process. I expect about 30 years. I have the feeling that politicians have that realization too. And if it isn't, that same government creates a problem. Then we will continue as agriculture as we have done over the past decades and there will be hardly any farmer left in 30 years. It seems to me, given the public debate, that that only produces losers."

Is the government partly responsible for how agriculture has developed?
"Absolutely. From just after the Second World War until the late 90s, the government itself promoted efficiency and economies of scale. Moreover, the government prevents innovation through legislation and regulations. The peasantry can and must bear this responsibility. address the government."

How do you want to respond to this with your company?
"I hope to develop our company in the coming years in such a way that I will become the 'milk farmer of Aldeboarn'. I want to sell a significant part of the milk in the village with added value. I am busy exploring the possibilities for Together with Living Lab, Agriton, Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences and LTO Noord Projecten, I want to obtain scientific evidence that milk from purely meadow grass and hay, which is not fermented, may carry a higher health claim. , together with colleagues, eventually sell it through healthcare institutions for a higher price. That way I try to add real value."

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