Henk Staghouwer becomes Minister of Agriculture

Henk Staghouwer (ChristenUnie) will be the new Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality in the new Rutte IV cabinet. Staghouwer, who succeeds Carola Schouten, is currently deputy of the Province of Groningen. According to Gert-Jan Segers, the party leader of ChristenUnie, the 59-year-old Staghouwer is continuing the policy of his predecessor Schouten.

"Where Carola laid down a vision for circular agriculture in the previous period, it is once again a minister of the Christian Union house who can now continue to work with it," Segers said in a statement on his party's website. "As our deputy in Groningen, Staghouwer has already been working hard on that change together with our farmers." According to Segers, Staghouwer will work with all farmers, horticulturists and fishermen in the Netherlands to work on sustainable and future-oriented agriculture and fisheries and he wants to work to strengthen nature in our country. "There is a lot to do in this area. Henk Staghouwer knows this better than anyone and will devote his heart and soul to a sector that is very close to his heart."

From the bakery world
Staghouwer has been around for more than eight years Deputy of the Province of Groningen. Before that, he was active in the food sector for more than two decades as director of Bakkerij Staghouwer. This chain had several stores in Groningen, which Henk Staghouwer sold in 2011. As deputy, Staghouwer in Groningen has an extensive portfolio that includes Agriculture, Fisheries, Nature and Landscape. His predecessor, the current outgoing Minister of Agriculture Carola Schouten, will remain the third deputy prime minister in the new cabinet. She will be the new minister for Poverty Policy, Participation and Pensions. This post follows under the Ministry of Social Affairs.

As Minister of Agriculture, Henk Staghouwer does not have to bite the bullet on the nitrogen dossier in the first instance. There will be a special minister of Nitrogen and Nature for this. A VVD member will be featured on this post and although her name has not yet been officially confirmed, Christianne van der Wal by far the most mentioned. Van der Wal is national chairman of the VVD and, like Staghouwer, also comes from the province. She is now Deputy for Economy and Innovation of the Province of Gelderland. The party is therefore not opting for a real specialist in the nitrogen field, although Van der Wal has undoubtedly learned a lot from this from the Provincial Executive of Gelderland.

Climate dramatist on climate
Although the posts directly linked to Agriculture and Nature have been allocated to the ChristenUnie and the VVD in Rutte IV, the Dutch agricultural sector has not yet got rid of the agriculturally critical D66. Rob Jetten seems a certainty for the new ministerial position of Climate and Energy. Klaas Dijkhoff, the then VVD party leader in parliament, gave the current party leader of D66 the predicate of 'climate pusher'. It is quite possible that Jetten, like for instance Frans Timmermans with his Green Deal in the European Union, can exert a major influence on the future of the agricultural sector in the Netherlands.

Two other posts that are also related to the farmer and the countryside have a VVD member and a CDA member as minister. Mark Harbers (VVD) will be the new Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management. As a Member of Parliament, Harbers was the holder of the nitrogen file for the VVD in parliament for a while. The CDA supplies the Minister of Housing and Spatial Planning. For this post, the name of the current 'corona minister' Hugo de Jonge is singing around, but his name has also been linked to other posts before.

The new cabinet will be definitively announced just after the turn of the year. According to the current route, Rutte IV will start on Monday 10 January.

© DCA Market Intelligence. This market information is subject to copyright. It is not permitted to reproduce, distribute, disseminate or make the content available to third parties for compensation, in any form, without the express written permission of DCA Market Intelligence.