Better earning model for sustainable farmer arranged in this way

On Friday 28 June, the cabinet presented the Climate Agreement, in which an amount of almost €2030 billion will be made available for agriculture until 1. Marc Calon, the chairman of LTO Nederland, however, said he would not sign until he is sure that this financing will be completed.

Written by: Jeroom Remmers, director of Tapp Coalition.

The missing revenue model for climate and circular agriculture is within reach: a fair price for consumers, starting with meat. For example, let consumers in the store contribute to the agricultural transition through a sustainability contribution per kilo of product. Half of the proceeds will go to an agricultural fund, which will generate €500 million a year.

On BNR Nieuwsradio reported Calon: "Agriculture and horticulture faces a significant investment task (of €11 billion) to meet the targets in 10 years' time. €6,5 billion of this is unprofitable, despite a subsidy of up to approximately €3 billion. Minister Carola Schouten ( Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality) deserves credit for getting an extra €1 billion from the Ministry of Finance, but there is still a deficit of €3,5 billion. The farmers are not signing bad checks. Don't sign until we're sure we can deliver."

Research sustainability contribution
The deficit that LTO chairman Calon is talking about (€350 million per year) can still be found in various ways. Hopefully LTO Nederland will also investigate the option of a sustainability contribution to meat (€2 per kilo), whereby payment is made for the external costs caused by a product (just like with a CO₂tax).

According to research agency CE, these external costs in the case of chicken, pork and beef amount to a minimum of €2 and a maximum of €5 per kilo. Meat is now on the shelf for €7 to €12 and would then become 16% to 28% more expensive. Meat for export remains untaxed. Slaughterhouses and meat importers would have to pay €2 per kilo of meat for the Dutch market, just like the soft drink producers and importers now do for the soft drink excise. This tax could be introduced in 2021 and will generate at least €1 billion a year.

Half of that amount can be made available each year for the Dutch agricultural sector: €350 million per year for climate and €150 million for circular agriculture. That is an average of €11.000 per year for 45.000 farms or €20.000 per year for 25.000 livestock farms. The nice thing is that this measure already has the support of about 40 organizations, including various companies and also Dierenbescherming, Greenpeace and Natuur en Milieu.

Sign at the cross
LTO Nederland only has to sign at the cross and voilà, the deficit of €350 million for climate measures in our sector has been settled. In addition, €150 million remains for the promotion of circular agriculture, including more own protein production and organic farming. The CLM and CE are investigating which unprofitable measures from the climate agreement could be paid out from the Fund, which is filled by sustainability contributions from consumers.

Agricultural entrepreneurs rightly ask for a better earnings model for sustainability performance. We offer Dutch livestock farmers this on a silver platter. How often have NGOs offered an average of €20.000 per year per livestock farmer to subsidize for climate and sustainability?

Boerenbusiness

below Boerenbusiness opinions are posted from authors who, in principle, give their opinion once Boerenbusiness.nl or from people who prefer to remain anonymous. Name and place of residence are always known to the editors.

© 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.