Minister Piet Adema gets the green light for fertilizer plans, livestock farmers laugh as farmers with a toothache: ‘how voluntary is that buyout scheme?’

Tom ten Kate (26), dairy farmer in Koekange with approximately 175 cows and chairman of Drenthe Agricultural Youth Contact

“I was not too pleased with the outcome of the parliamentary debate, I did not expect that Minister Adema would receive a majority for his plan. I do have mixed feelings about it. It is good that there is a lot of money for buyouts, but on the other hand, that is a problem. Farmers receive a slaughter premium if they sell cows on a voluntary basis, how voluntary is all this? Because the pressure to reduce is very high.

“I don’t think we will immediately have to deal with the phasing out of the manure derogation at our company, but we will in the longer term, because the measures are being implemented gradually. Then we too will have to find solutions. Fortunately, this issue is much less important in Drenthe than in other parts of the country. There is even a shortage of manure here, we import it from Brabant. So there are more opportunities for Drenthe farmers to sell manure to arable farmers.”

“The BBB wants us to try to relax regulations in Brussels. However, Minister Adema says that he sees no chance of that. In any case, I think it is important that we continue discussions with the European Commission. And I am also happy that politicians in The Hague are listening carefully to it plan that the Dutch Agricultural Youth Contact has created together with LTO Nederland. This also provides for, among other things, a buyout scheme.”

Pier Jan Boersma, organic dairy farmer from Eastermar:

“Adema’s plans do not end the uncertainty and it is also not a solution for the farming sector. It leads to a cold restructuring among fellow dairy farmers. Only the arable farmers are rubbing their hands, they can still use manure.

For me, the new strict manure policy is less important, I have not used a derogation for years. I already saw that those fertilizer rules would change. That is why I consciously made the choice to farm organically years ago. I have 50 dairy cows. We are on grassland on sandy soil here, and I could actually use a little more fertilizer.

I worry about what this will do to the value of the countryside, because this new policy will create a lot of work for farmers but will result in less income for many. It must still be possible to earn money here, otherwise the difference between city and countryside will become too great. For many farmers this means more costs, on top of the increased costs of personnel by about 15 percent.”

Lammert Westerhuis, arable farmer and poultry farmer, department chairman LTO Noord Het Hogeland, Usquert.

“I’m worried and I wonder if this will help enough. I’m afraid that Adema’s new plan will destroy many small and young dairy farmers. Because if you are allowed to milk fewer cows due to the proposed reduction in the herd, you will also have less income. But most of your costs will continue as normal. And I know from experience that this type of new policy is easier for larger dairy farms to digest than for smaller ones. They can often better cope with the complexity of new measures. So yes, I fear that this will soon lead to even more large livestock farms, and is that what we want?

“In fact, that derogation should be returned, especially for Groningen. Because we have a manure shortage here. You just have to properly regulate the leaching (which allows harmful substances to reach the groundwater through precipitation, ed.). Manure has nutrients and therefore has value. Yes, it is true, manure is a revenue model for arable farmers at a higher price, but then it comes at the expense of younger and smaller dairy farmers. The manure problem will not be solved in the short term with this measure from Adema.”