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Opinions Jaap Major

My faith in politics has fallen to zero

6 July 2021 - Boerenbusiness - 24 comments

The Netherlands is 3% below the allocated standard of the nitrogen ceiling. Nevertheless, farmers in the Netherlands are identified as the cause of the nitrogen problem.

Reports that have not been made public, but have now come to the fore, show that the managers of nature reserves far away are the main causes of these nitrogen emissions. They are held up over their heads and not held accountable.

How can you as a government measure with such different measures? I certainly believe that the nature managers themselves are the main cause. In an earlier report, which the government and nature organizations also do not discuss, it was already established from measurements that the nitrogen from the stables precipitated directly in the vicinity and could no longer be measured further away. How else can you blame agriculture for the massive loss of biodiversity in recent years? In recent years, the surface of agricultural land has decreased sharply, the number of nature reserves has expanded considerably and agriculture has greatly reduced its nitrogen emissions.

Farmer collects most rainwater
The lowering of the groundwater level is also blamed on the farmers. They capture the largest amount of rainwater with their soil. Only we are pumping more and more drinking water and paving more and more surface, so that the rainwater is not collected by the soil. The green lobby and water companies said in the One Today program last week that farming by drilling wells and then pumping water was jeopardizing continuity of supply of drinking water. Who is to blame now?

Report after report appears that agriculture is to blame. Only no one has hard figures that this is correct. The Plan Bureau for the Living Environment (PBL) is now clear: agriculture has to go in several provinces. In any form. Result: due to the construction of nature reserves a much larger nitrogen surplus, large deficit on the trade balance, sharp increase in unemployment, no more good and reliably produced food.

Dependent on foreign countries
We are also completely dependent on foreign countries for our food. Strong decline in untouched nature areas abroad. Total felling of the tropical rainforests to compensate for our lost agriculture. In short, the most stupid decision ever made in Dutch history. I have already written that we will become the new developing country. That will happen.

Isn't it time to do a big independent study with a few farmers involved? The current research reports are now clearly written by experts who are paid by the nature authorities and thus keep their clients out of harm's way.
Until there is an independent clear report, I no longer trust any investigative report.

They are all made up of assumptions and 'we find.' Or 'what suits us'?
When it is clearly described in that truly independent report, what agriculture can still do about points for improvement and the government gives a written guarantee for at least 15 years, then I am sure that the government will regain support. Now every entrepreneur has lost confidence in the government.

Companies are outlawed
Also take the PAS notifications that the farmers had to make instead of applying for an environmental permit. Now these companies are outlawed and do not know whether they will still receive a permit. Even Rabobank is now writing: farmers with a PAS report - and therefore no valid Nuisance Act permit - will have problems with their financing. Then again yes, then again not applying for a permit. Ultimately though. What should you do now?

As a company you only do business with companies you can trust 100%, but you are now obliged to do business with the government. A company that can no longer be trusted at all due to the unclear and changing rules. And also measure with very different sizes, so that the farmers always come in a bad light

Jaap Major
Low Zuthem

Boerenbusiness

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24 comments
Subscriber
grey hairs 6 July 2021
This is in response to it Boerenbusiness article:
[url = https: // www.boerenbusiness.nl/column/10893127/mijn-trust-in-politics-is-daald-naar-nul]My confidence in politics has fallen to zero[/url]
there is a proverb the shore turns the ship am afraid the ship has sunk before it arrives at the shore
Subscriber
howl 6 July 2021
lie from here to China that left-wing people
Subscriber
drama 6 July 2021
Put this in all national newspapers tomorrow!
gerard 6 July 2021
this will not be read in a newspaper, that is not allowed from the newspaper they are far too left just like the TV
Jos 6 July 2021
Chamber questions from the BBB, for the cabinet.
Ruud Hendriks 6 July 2021
The contribution of nature to nitrogen leaching has long since been adjusted and nuanced. There has been extensive discussion on social media about this. Mr Majoor was there so it is amazing that he still insists on Agrifacts reporting as the only reality. Nitrogen is retained in undisturbed nature. It is mainly released in wet areas (stream valleys, peat) by lowering groundwater and because increased nitrogen deposition causes changes in soil life, which stimulates accelerated degradation.

The story becomes downright sad when agriculture is regarded as the largest collector of water. It is precisely for agriculture that the entire drainage system of water designated by agriculture as surplus has been set up and the water level has been lowered in all naturally wet stream valleys and peatlands. And now put the nitrogen losses that result in nature on the account of that nature? Where does Mr Major get the logic from! Certainly, urbanization also plays a part in water management as a whole, but agriculture is still a very big player there and nature's closest neighbor.

I do not declare nature sacred, heather is not even nature. But I can't stand crooked reasoning.

Reasons about deforestation and food dependence? All reports paid for by wildlife agencies? Might it be an idea to switch to literary writing fiction? Inspiration enough.
Subscriber
peta 6 July 2021
Dear Hendriks.
Let's start at the front; explain to me why our deposition standard has, if necessary, been set more than 20 times lower than in neighboring countries ?!
Do you think this bureaucratic and political error is justified?
Or is our nature surrounded by more (lottery) money?
It can freeze or thaw 6 July 2021
ruud hendriks wrote:
The contribution of nature to nitrogen leaching has long since been adjusted and nuanced. There has been extensive discussion on social media about this. Mr Majoor was there so it is amazing that he still insists on Agrifacts reporting as the only reality. Nitrogen is retained in undisturbed nature. It is mainly released in wet areas (stream valleys, peat) by lowering groundwater and because increased nitrogen deposition causes changes in soil life, which stimulates accelerated degradation.

The story becomes downright sad when agriculture is regarded as the largest collector of water. It is precisely for agriculture that the entire drainage system of water designated by agriculture as surplus has been set up and the water level has been lowered in all naturally wet stream valleys and peatlands. And now put the nitrogen losses that result in nature on the account of that nature? Where does Mr Major get the logic from! Certainly, urbanization also plays a part in water management as a whole, but agriculture is still a very big player there and nature's closest neighbor.

I do not declare nature sacred, heather is not even nature. But I can't stand crooked reasoning.

Reasons about deforestation and food dependence? All reports paid for by wildlife agencies? Might it be an idea to switch to literary writing fiction? Inspiration enough.
There are too many people on this planet that politicians have to recognize.

Unfortunately, it seems that this discussion is not allowed.

In the past, I'm talking about the 60s, the club of Rome stated that the Netherlands was full at about 12 million inhabitants, we already live with more than 18 million on this stamp.
Ruud Hendriks 6 July 2021
@ petatje. Look before you start pointing abroad. Abroad, it is a bit later on steam, but nitrogen is also becoming a hot item there (with increasing protests as well). It is an EU-wide development, so pointing to other countries is therefore of little use. If we do it anyway, they will immediately point back to report that most of the Dutch nitrogen ends up abroad. Then we are further from home.
The professional response to Agrifact's story can be found at https://www.foodlog.nl/artikel/stichting-agrifacts-hat-ongelijk-over-stikstof-uit-ondernemings-maar-agendeert/
Jos 6 July 2021
In many areas in the Netherlands, a lot of groundwater is pumped away.
To ensure that residential areas and industrial areas keep their feet dry.
There is nothing against that. But blame 1 profession everywhere.
It has been known for a number of years that far too many residents in the Netherlands.
Who eat, drink, defecate, pee and burn petroleum.
6 July 2021
The same goes for the glyphosate discussion, when municipalities curtailed their use of glyphosate, much less glyphosate was found in water. Now that municipalities are using glyphosate again, surface water is again found in surface water, and that is not surprising because in agriculture there are cultivation-free strips next to surface water where no fertilization or pesticide use is allowed, and the municipal public garden service cheerfully sprays glyphosate over the sidewalk. is equipped with the associated drains and other drainage systems. But the farmer is blamed when glyphosate is found in the water.
Subscriber
Captain Gone 6 July 2021
Sit back and watch how this beautiful country with the ideas of Ruud is completely screwed up, the only agricultural product that the left is still positive about is the drugs.
Subscriber
peta 6 July 2021
Ruud, reading comprehension is not your strongest point unless you consciously ignore it: the absurdly low nitrogen standard that our left-wing officials have imposed on our country, and which are now going to destroy our entire economy! There is only 1 solution, and that is raising the standard equal to the neighboring countries that are also EU members! And yes, the green mafia is also whining there and the postcode lottery has already started there to finance things and also put those countries on their ass! All for the money from the green rascals!
In the past, the church went after a place in heaven, now the environment because the citizen is talked about a problem through the media, just like in the past from the pulpit. And Ruud, yes I think you are a good believer too! Glad I don't have a son in Dronten, I'd pick him up right from school with the kind of teachers that walk around there.
Subscriber
frog 6 July 2021
boycott that school and also their interns, my son is not going to Dronten and I hope many will think the same!
Skirt 7 July 2021
Farming within the EU is in any case a futureless exercise. Go to Canada, just do it.
Subscriber
Southwest 7 July 2021
Yes that's the solution, in the summer 5 months digesting the heat and in the winter 7 months with -25 and 2 meters of snow. Really beautiful!
Subscriber
Dirk 7 July 2021
kjol is right.
If you don't like it here, go somewhere in the world where the rules are completely tailored to your needs.
But don't continue to screw things up here self-centeredly and seize police capacity etc. that we below
can really use the current circumstances more meaningfully than to restrain a bunch of non-conformist farmers.
Subscriber
crow 7 July 2021
Yes Dirk until your area is designated as an area not suitable for farming and you are slowly smoked out. But you're probably not a farmer
Maarten 7 July 2021
It is best not to send your children to agricultural education at all, but simply to another sector or to a more general field of study that can be applied more broadly. When I was in the last year of the HAS DB (more than 10 years ago), the director of the training came to tell me that the majority of graduates come to work outside the sector, and that has purely to do with production expansions and developments abroad. And so it happened, those who did go to work in the agricultural sector spend most of the year abroad. You also hear more and more that, for example, large feed cooperatives when applying for a job (if they hire someone at all) inform the candidate that they no longer hire hasers, but prefer to choose HEAO employees, for example. Commercial interests are more important, a HAS employee with a farming background is no longer the ideal candidate for representing the commercial interests of the feed factories. The farmer's heart often gets in the way of commercial interests. After all, you have to advise the customer a method that earns the most by your employer and that is not the optimal choice for the farmer and then you have to be able to turn off your farmer's heart and mind.
Subscriber
Dirk 7 July 2021
I'm probably a farmer, dear crow.
probably you are not a crow, dear crow
Enough farmers in nl., just like crows.
Here Natura 2000, is currently being furnished and will be very beautiful.
If livestock farming is responsible for 46% of nitrogen emissions and all ammonia in the atmosphere comes from livestock farming and is converted into particulate matter, then you don't need to have visited Wageningen to recognize that there is a problem here and there.
Start to see from a high branch that a solution must be found in this overpopulated (cattle) country, that continuing in the current way (also with possible "innovation") can be immediately crossed out and that our government is just a little has nothing to do but exhaustively deal with a minority group that is dissatisfied. Just leave the tractor in the shed (or something)
Bolt of lightning 7 July 2021
nitrogen deposition by lightning alone: ​​60 kg/year/ha.

there is sufficient literature on this that is wisely omitted

Every year!!!!



Hendriks : run to the lightning and bring a long upturned pitchfork!
Chose 16 July 2021
We citizens are partly the problem, we have to eat. On the other hand, I can largely agree with Ruud Hendriks' reaction and Jaap Majoor's reasoning is difficult to follow. I have my doubts about that, also because he wrote in another publication that NH4 is converted into CO2, which is not possible.

We have the problem that some of the nitrogen oxides end up outside the livestock farmer's premises. To damage to nitrogen-averse plants. Are they less important than (meat) eating humans, or an industry? They were present on earth before humans, so that humans may adopt a more modest attitude.

Opinions are normally based on a premise that we choose, something that we consider important. You can choose 1. the economic interest, 2. for humanity that needs to be fed, 3. for plants and animals that cannot defend themselves or 4. the undamaged passing on of the Earth to next generations. mr. Major chooses 1 and/or 2. If citizens, ecologists or politicians in The Hague give priority to 3 or 4, that does not mean that their opinion is incorrect or that they do not have “common sense”. They just set a different priority.

It would perhaps be good if experts from the Netherlands and neighboring countries would consult and jointly determine which nitrogen precipitation is still permitted. That then becomes the boundary within which we must operate. That could be 0,5 moles or 6 moles or something in between. It is not certain whether the German standard is better because it is broader. This only applies to priority 1 above. The standard can then mean fewer livestock, fewer cars, or both.

It is up to politicians to resolve this and what compensation should look like. Living and working in an overcrowded country is indeed difficult.
Subscriber
peta 17 July 2021
Koos wrote:
We citizens are partly the problem, we have to eat. On the other hand, I can largely agree with Ruud Hendriks' reaction and Jaap Majoor's reasoning is difficult to follow. I have my doubts about that, also because he wrote in another publication that NH4 is converted into CO2, which is not possible.

We have the problem that some of the nitrogen oxides end up outside the livestock farmer's premises. To damage to nitrogen-averse plants. Are they less important than (meat) eating humans, or an industry? They were present on earth before humans, so that humans may adopt a more modest attitude.

Opinions are normally based on a premise that we choose, something that we consider important. You can choose 1. the economic interest, 2. for humanity that needs to be fed, 3. for plants and animals that cannot defend themselves or 4. the undamaged passing on of the Earth to next generations. mr. Major chooses 1 and/or 2. If citizens, ecologists or politicians in The Hague give priority to 3 or 4, that does not mean that their opinion is incorrect or that they do not have “common sense”. They just set a different priority.

It would perhaps be good if experts from the Netherlands and neighboring countries would consult and jointly determine which nitrogen precipitation is still permitted. That then becomes the boundary within which we must operate. That could be 0,5 moles or 6 moles or something in between. It is not certain whether the German standard is better because it is broader. This only applies to priority 1 above. The standard can then mean fewer livestock, fewer cars, or both.

It is up to politicians to resolve this and what compensation should look like. Living and working in an overcrowded country is indeed difficult.
I don't read anything about airplanes, dear Koos. They also forbid including weekends in Barcelona or Prague. Just not a bike ride, isn't it, Koos. That's how you live, everything purely Dutch real estate, wooden bare furniture, you never come to ACtion and you use the internet at your neighbor so you don't use energy or need data centers.
Yes, Koos, you must be setting an example, after all, you are preaching hell and damnation in the pulpit, just like the much-loved Frenske. You're a nice guy, but I'm not gonna believe you.
joker 18 July 2021
Give Ruud Hendriks a piece of land for a year, no access to the supermarket and let him grow it himself.

A man with a real Pippi Longstocking syndrome: "I've never done it so I think I can do it".

The government approached the matter from all sides in such a way that the blame fell on the electorally smallest group in the Netherlands, which owned most of the land: the Boers.

Traffic figures were brought down in the sound register long before the story really came out.

And with lower traffic figures, you also have fewer emissions.

And the story of Leon Adegeest can be used as a guideline about aviation.

Other engines used in the calculations, other heights go on and on, there was also 1 fraud fest.

And then I see a confused man with weird glasses who is going to tell everyone and proclaim his macrobiotic ideas as leadership and endanger our food production.

We are now seeing the story of the Organic Potatoes, which will probably all remain on the land, but because of that mess, the disease pressure on conventional cultivation is also enormous.

If we let figures such as Ruud Hendriks, Klavertje and Timmermans work, a lot of people could still die from hunger.
Chose 18 July 2021
I don't read anything about airplanes, dear Koos. They also forbid including weekends in Barcelona or Prague. Just not a bike ride, isn't it, Koos. That's how you live, everything purely Dutch real estate, wooden bare furniture, you never come to ACtion and you use the internet at your neighbor so you don't use energy or need data centers.
Yes, Koos, you must be setting an example, after all, you are preaching hell and damnation in the pulpit, just like the much-loved Frenske. You're a nice guy, but I'm not gonna believe you.

Do you also have substantive comments, instead of sneering? Coincidentally, this wasn't about airplanes, so I'm not going to include everything.
You can no longer respond.

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