Politics

Minister Jaimi van Essen finds it 'a terrible prospect' that the idea would be that one entrepreneur in the Netherlands would be helped while another would not. Moreover, he opposes this and would like to do everything possible to prevent these kinds of situations.

Does the executive branch perhaps deliberately use different data to push the agricultural sector a little further into its corner? It is a question that arose in connection with the intended revocation of the unconditional nature permits of six poultry farms in Brabant. That question also arises now that Minister Van Essen has sent the latest Monitor on phosphate and nitrogen excretion in animal manure to the House.

More and more farmers seem to be realizing what the Jetten cabinet's nitrogen letter means for them. The number of protest gatherings in various locations across the country is increasing by the week. Sometimes these involve small, local actions with tractors, but frequently they are meetings in halls, converted barns, and the like.

D66 parliamentary group leader Jan Paternotte was just a little too early at the end of July, when he noted with satisfaction that he 'hadn't seen a tractor yet' since the presentation of the cabinet's nitrogen plans. Minister Van Essen perhaps also thought that no farmer would care about the fate of 5 Brabant poultry farmers. They were mistaken about the farmer's feelings.

The political game surrounding nitrogen policy has begun and will continue to develop in the coming months. Unfortunately, this is not the only thing Dutch agriculture will have to deal with after the summer. For although there is a great deal of focus on this, there is more at play.

An age-old adage holds that politics is the art of the impossible. This past week showed once again how that works. Minister of Agriculture Jaimi van Essen stood in the House of Representatives on behalf of the cabinet to defend last Friday's nitrogen letter. According to him, this package, which is a hodgepodge of measures and ways of thinking, must be treated as one unchangeable whole.

The choreography for rolling out The Hague's nitrogen plans followed the predictable pattern this week. After the phases of leaks and photo and video sessions, it was the week of creating positive facts and demonstrating unity.

This week, they were busy with the images for the story they want to send to the House of Representatives at the end of this month. Prime Minister Rob Jetten and Minister Jaimi van Essen of LVVN were on a working visit to the Veluwe, a 'hotspot' for nitrogen policy. First at a beautiful farm with Brandrode cattle in Uddel, then in nature near Radio Kootwijk.

While the Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LVVN) remains largely silent regarding the nitrogen plans of Taskforce Jetten, his institutional entourage is starting to beat the drum with increasing emphasis. Leonard Geluk, Director of Staatsbosbeheer (an independent administrative body under the responsibility of the Minister), is already asserting his authority and eyeing more responsibilities. The leadership of Vereniging Natuurmonumenten (largely dependent on government subsidies) is also becoming increasingly vocal and wants a piece of the pie as well.

Around the summer, the Jetten minority cabinet was supposed to present a broad new nitrogen policy, but you don't hear the ministers speaking about it substantively: not Prime Minister Jetten, and certainly not Agriculture Minister Van Essen, except in some general terms. Meanwhile, the minister continues to conduct friendly company visits, speak out in favor of greater sustainability, and address other topics that resonate well. 

Former Minister for Nitrogen, Christianne van der Wal, almost automatically comes to mind regarding innovations in the field of nitrogen. For why must livestock farmers in Brabant adapt their older barns by July 1st at the latest? Yes, they must emit less and are therefore required to build, but for what purpose? And are the mandatory innovations legally tenable, as Van der Wal once stipulated as a precondition?

May the administrative court apply different criteria than the civil court? And may the former judge give the minister leeway to act at his own discretion, while the latter may give him a slap on the wrist when he does not look far enough behind the decimal point?

Pressure on rural areas is increasing. New homes are needed, villages want to expand, and old farmsteads are being repurposed. But as soon as new construction gets closer to agricultural land, one question arises more and more frequently: how much space must remain between a home and a plot where crop protection products are used?

The Nitrogen Claim Foundation (SSC), acting on behalf of one of its members and 600 other affiliates in Brabant, is fully opposing the Brabant livestock policy. It demands that the province suspend or revoke its own environmental ordinance, which stipulates a mandatory limitation of ammonia emissions as of July 1 of this year.