How government tried to stifle nitrogen criticism

Not really a surprise, but quite disconcerting to read. How the government tried to curb Jaap Hanekamp and me. Because we wrote critically about nitrogen.

Jaap as a scientific researcher, I as an investigative journalist. Recently, hundreds of pages of internal nitrogen correspondence came out into the open, with a WOB procedure (Decision on Wob request about the preparation of the report In conversation about ammonia: contours of a way out of the controversy). They provide a wonderful insight into the actions taken by the government against 'troubleshooters'.

We have to go back to the end of 2017. Tensions about the ammonia policy, the nitrogen for farmers, will have run high. Not with us, but with the Ministry of Agriculture. We wanted to have the WUR measurements of more than 200 fertilization trials in the field. However, anything older than five years was no longer available. Thus Wageningen UR (WUR) and the minister in unison. WUR's lost measurements received a lot of media attention.

Support for ammonia policy
Agriculture Minister Carola Schouten (photo) wants support for her ammonia policy again. She informs the House of Representatives that it will organize ammonia dialogues. With the Rathenau Institute as mediator. Policy makers, farmers' organisations, nature clubs and others involved need to get together. They should discuss together how the policy objectives can best be achieved. Jaap and I also received an invitation for a dialogue session. Strange. Ensuring that policy objectives are achieved is not directly a task of journalism and science. We could not commit ourselves to this, we unsubscribed.  

Our cancellation hit the ministry like a bomb, according to the wobbed documents. "The main critics have canceled" and "they were the reason to start this whole process". It really is like that. The minister is advised by her officials not to be satisfied with our cancellation and to bring 'the critics' on board. I still remember the phone calls, I still have the letters and emails. Unable to unsubscribe.

The lost measurements
Yet we kept unsubscribing, in my memory about seven times. Jaap and I indicated that we would like to talk about the scientific dispute, about which we were in conclave with WUR and RIVM at the time. That included the lost measurements. Funny to read how the government responded to our offer. Can we as a government allow critics to set the agenda? And shouldn't our government delegation be heavier?

The meeting finally took place on June 8, 2018. The 'established order' came with a heavy delegation of about ten people. Things went wrong during the meeting. A WUR scientist let slip that all measurement data were simply available. They were not gone, as WUR and the minister had told everyone. The flame hit the pan.

A spicy conversation
The day after the meeting, there is an email exchange within the ministry about the incident. "Within WUR there will still be a lively conversation about the announcement of [name glossed over], which was a surprise to everyone." A spicy conversation with a scientist because he spoke the truth? It's about time the nitrogen ministry got rid of everything.

Ghost Rotgers

Investigative journalist in the agricultural sector

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