Landmark agriculture deal collapses; Cabinet to take measures itself

The discussions meant to bring about an end to the stalemate between the Cabinet and the agriculture sector over issues related to environmental policy, nitrogen emissions, and sustainability have been definitively discontinued, Chris Kalden said on Wednesday. Kalden formerly led the national nature reserve organization Staatsbosbeheer, and was was tasked with leading talks between the agriculture sector, the Cabinet, and other affected parties and stakeholders. As a result of the talks being dissolved, the Cabinet members said they now have no choice but to take measures into their own hands. The Cabinet will quickly consider what happens next, according to a letter to parliament from the agriculture minister.

"The parties that are sitting around the table to make an agricultural agreement have determined that it is not credible to conclude an agreement without the participation of the largest agricultural organization in the Netherlands, LTO Nederland," said Kalden. That is why it was decided to stop the process, he continued.

The LTO, which represents over 35,000 agriculture, horticulture and market garden businesses, decided on Tuesday evening to withdraw from the consultations, because they believe insufficient steps have been taken to offer farmers and market gardeners future prospects and income security. The LTO said as part of its criticism that a robust revenue model for Dutch farmers and market gardeners was lacking.

LTO Chair Sjaak van der Tak was also at the meeting on Wednesday and said that a "respectful conversation" had been held, in which the other participants at the main table had expressed sincere "words of disappointment." He responded to this by saying, "I have that disappointment myself." In his own words, Van der Tak had called for talks to continue in the coming period when calm was restored.

The Cabinet will take its own measures to make the agricultural sector more sustainable now that it has not been possible to reach an agreement with the farmers. "But it cannot be the case that the Cabinet automatically implements what was already agreed in the agreement," said Agriculture Minister Piet Adema after the talks broke down.

Adema said he will discuss measures to be taken with the Cabinet on Friday, including a review of its own package of measures for the farming sector. This means bad news for the entire agricultural sector, because the Cabinet will not necessarily adopt all negotiated measures. "We are going to look more at our positions from where we started," Adema said about the Cabinet's perspective.

He said that the parties in the agricultural consultations were in agreement with "95 percent, or perhaps more," when the talks broke down. "But LTO would not dare to take the last step," said Adema.

"It cannot be the case that you negotiate a whole agreement, do not take responsibility, but that the Cabinet then will still implement it. On Friday, we will see what the Cabinet thinks and what proposals we come up with."

The Cabinet was "very surprised" by the departure of LTO from the negotiating table on Tuesday evening. "When we sat down at the table, LTO immediately came up with the announcement, 'We are stopping.' The Cabinet has not been given the opportunity to make better proposals."

Gelderland's policy director for agriculture, Peter Drenth, said he wants the parties involved in the national-level talks to "clarify what went wrong." Drenth believes that all documents that have been on the table during the discussions about the agricultural agreement should be made accessible to the public. "Then we know where the problem is, and can we somehow solve it. We all benefit from clarity." National agreements on aspects like the price for a liter of milk make it much easier for provinces to talk to farmers about such matters, explained Drenth. "We need those kinds of building blocks from The Hague."

Several provinces also expressed dismay about the collapsing talks. "Overijssel has identified offering sustainable future prospects for the agricultural sector as one of the essential pillars needed to successfully achieve the set goals and tasks together," a spokesperson for the province said. Overijssel said it is now up to the Cabinet "to provide clarity" in concrete terms as to how that desired future perspective can still be created.

The Zuid-Holland policymaker in charge of agriculture and horticulture, Meindert Stolk, said it was "incredibly sour" that a broad agricultural agreement was not possible. "We have always emphasized that an agreement that offers a sustainable and economically viable perspective to agriculture is an important condition for a successful rural area program. I therefore sincerely hope that the points that have been agreed on will provide sufficient basis offer to take further steps.”

All provinces must submit a draft of their Provincial Program Rural Area (PPLG) proposals to Nature and Nitrogen Minister Christianne van der Wal by July 1 at the latest. In it, they are to describe their intentions for achieving the Cabinet's targets for nature, nitrogen emissions, water quality and climate. The government has set up a 24.3 billion euro transition fund for this, but that does not seem to be nearly enough to implement all of the plans.