Dairy farmer Koos Cromwijk from Kockengen has had his last cows collected: ‘With pain in the heart’ | Agraaf.nl

In recent years, Cromwijk kept around 90 cows in a partnership with his partner Arie van Oosterom, while in 2016 he received phosphate rights for only 60 animals. In the meantime, he built a new stable for 120 cows in 2015. He can no longer maintain purchasing phosphate rights year after year. “Arie and I have had to invest tons in phosphate rights in recent years, while they are now becoming less and less valuable. In combination with rising manure disposal costs due to the phasing out of the derogation, it is therefore no longer feasible for us. With pain in our hearts we therefore had to make the decision to stop milking. The decision feels like someone has died.”

Decision

Yet the dairy farmer himself remains quite down-to-earth about it. “If we had continued like this for years to come, we would have had to jump through all kinds of hoops with the partnership to keep our heads above water. If things were no longer viable financially, the bank would have intervened and sold our company and the associated land. We don’t want to take that risk of losing everything. That is why, after consultation, Arie and I decided to consider the future, so that we can retain control over our own property.”

Future

Cromwijk currently has a care farm. He started that in 2022. “I definitely want to continue with that, because it gives a lot of energy. Furthermore, it is not yet clear what the future will bring us. We do a lot of nature management (11 of the 53 hectares, ed.), so we may do something with rearing young cattle or beef cattle. I have a positive view of the future for our company, but I am very concerned about the sector. If the policy continues like this, I think many farmers will (out of necessity) make the decision to stop.”

Worries about colleagues

The Utrecht resident emphasizes several times during the interview that it is not about him and his company and that ‘everything will be fine’. He especially wants to draw attention to his colleagues, who, according to him, are in much more dire situations. “As a farmer and member of Parliament, I hear stories from young farmers who have just taken over a company and can no longer sustain it financially. For example, the bank requires them to sell all the land within six months. I find it much worse than my own situation that such companies with great future prospects are now in danger of going under.”

Call

Cromwijk is no stranger to the sector. He gave an emotional speech to the House of Representatives in 2022 and made many media appearances to draw attention to the importance of the sector. He continues to do that, as a member of Parliament and as a farmer.

He also calls on his colleagues: “It is time for farmers to wake up and make themselves heard. Get off your property and take action against the current policy, otherwise the sector will be destroyed. Write a letter to the minister or sit with colleagues at the provincial government building every day. We really need to prevent the sector from being destroyed by people and politicians with different ideals. I understand that you are busy with the first cut and do not have time to take action, but I would still like to call on you to do something with other farmers, otherwise the first cut will no longer be mown in a few years.”