Furious MP's demand clarity for farmers in nitrogen policy

The lower house of the Dutch parliament was very harsh on Agriculture Minster Henk Staghouwer. The parties believe that he comes up with far too few concrete measures. A majority supported a motion demanding that the Minister come up with plans for farmers “well before Budget Day” and make “political choices” about the future of farming.

All coalition parties supported an appeal from GroenLinks to this end, as did the PvdD, SP, PvdA, and BBB. According to GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver, the parties often differ in opinion, but they are “united that this is unacceptable.” As far as Klaver is concerned, the motion is a “yellow card,” he told Staghouwer.

The Minister could not alleviate the MPs’ frustration in the debate about the nitrogen policy. That while the Minister, as CDA parliamentarian Derk Boswijk put it, had been given “the best half of the assignment” - offering perspective against the drastic nitrogen measures. Staghouwer stressed that he needs time to work out plans for the agricultural sector. That policy should ensure that farmers earn better money from their food.

Staghouwer’s perspective letter, which the Cabinet published along with the controversial nitrogen map, is “little more than a staple due to all kinds of existing subsidy schemes,” according to SGP parliamentarian Roelof Bisschop. Boswijk spoke of a “missed opportunity.” He “had really hoped that there would be much more concrete measures.” What the Cabinet is now offering to farmers who want to farm in a greener way “compares meagerly” with the drastic nitrogen measures, said the Christian Democrat. The PvdA called the lack of plans “really unacceptable.”

SP MP Sandra Beckerman called it “a perspective letter that offers no perspective. D66 parliamentarian Tjeerd de Groot thinks “no farmer understood anything” in the long letter. “If you’re reading that, you really don’t know where you stand.” Both the BBB and the PvdD denounced the lack of measures. The VVD spoke of “throbbing principles,” but that “miss hitting the nail in the head,” said MP Thom van Campen.

Staghower (ChristenUnie), in turn, said he understood parliament’s impatience. But the schemes for farmers also depend on the elaboration of the nitrogen plans. The provinces have been given a year to elaborate on these plans.

A majority also supported a proposal by GroenLinks and the PvdA to investigate how “chain companies” - banks, food processors, and barn builders, among others - can be obliged to contribute financially to the nitrogen plans. The Cabinet must see whether the farmers’ debts with these companies can be (partially) forgiven to prevent the money with which farmers are bought out from directly ending up at banks or other companies.

The parties emphasized that these chain companies have benefited from the agricultural policy and that the “current crisis is partly caused by financing economies of scale in the agricultural sector.”

“In recent decades, farmers had to work on an increasingly large scale and industrial scale in order to earn enough,” said PvdA MP Joris Thijssen. “The farmers who didn't participate disappeared.” He said it is “only normal that we also ask these investors and large companies to contribute.”

GroenLinks leader Klaver added that it is “not fair” to let “only farmers and taxpayers pay for the costs of the nitrogen crisis.” The transition to greener agriculture must also come from the chain parties who are “jointly responsible” for this crisis.

The motion was co-signed by the VVD, D66, CDA, SP, PvdD, and the ChristenUnie.