Agriculture Collective closes the ranks

Last night (Wednesday) the Agricultural Collective agreed not to waste any more energy on differences of opinion. It has been decided to invest even more than before in strengthening each other and thus serving the farmers' interests. In particular with regard to the nitrogen dossier.

Bart Kemp, spokesperson for Agractie Nederland, reports this. The 13 groups and interest groups, which have formed the Agricultural Collective since the beginning of October, discussed the state of affairs and the follow-up of the cooperation last night after the publication of the letter to Parliament of 24 April. Last Friday has LTO Netherlands announced to leave the Agricultural Collective.

LTO did participate in the consultation, as the representative has indicated that he wishes to continue to cooperate on topics with the other coalition parties. The departure of LTO chairman Marc Calon did not change this setup.

Extremes in one coalition
Kemp: “The agricultural sector already has enough enemies outside of agriculture. Each party in the Agricultural Collective has its own DNA and fights for its own interests. But the competitive relations are set aside in order to be able to best represent the general agricultural interest. We only focus on how we can strengthen each other.”

Kemp explains the relationships within the Agricultural Collective, now called collaborating agricultural parties: "FDF is good at campaigning. The other extreme is the attitude of LTO, which is always focused on cooperation and based on thorough knowledge down to the capillaries of politics/ administrative Dutch system. The Netwerk Grondig, in turn, focuses on extensive land-based farms, often organic. They also have their say. Agractie wants to play a connecting role in between."

Current policy agenda
Earlier this week, Linda Janssen of pig farming organization POV announced that she saw a similar connecting role for her organization. The collaborating agricultural parties have plenty to do, apart from the internal vicissitudes of recent weeks. The Feed track approach by Minister Schouten must be off the table, but the legislation surrounding external netting still requires a lot of attention.

The intention is to ensure that the registration of non-agricultural parties that buy up ammonia rights from livestock farms - in order to meet their own nitrogen standards that the government imposes on them - is guaranteed. The Agricultural Collective claims an important voice in this system.

Finally, the Natura2000 problem and the threat of devaluation of livestock farms that have always been developing but are now blocked, for example the so-called PAS detectors. Kemp: “I support FDF's advice to have your company appraised in order to demonstrate any depreciation as a result of nitrogen legislation. Having your company appraised once in a while is a good idea anyway, regardless of the effects of the nitrogen problem.”

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