Netherlands: no Agriculture Accord reached despite 24-hour negotiations

Farmers’ representatives and the Dutch government still have not agreed on the proposed Agriculture Accord, which seeks to lay out the blueprint for the future of the country’s agrarian sector, despite negotiations lasting nearly 24 hours. R

The accord aims to make the agrarian sector more sustainable in the future, with the reduction of nitrogen emissions being the most important goal, as the Dutch cabinet plans to halve its emissions by 2030.

“It was a long day, we are also tired. We have really come further, but we are not there yet,” Agriculture Minister Piet Adema (ChristenUnie/EPP) told NOS.

“There are points that we still need to discuss quite firmly, and we will take some time for that,” he added.

The cabinet’s proposal to limit the number of cows per hectare to 2.5 – 3 had especially angered farmers’ representatives, who firmly opposed the measure, claiming that “at least one in five dairy farmers will be in trouble.”

“We failed to reach an agreement tonight despite tough talks with the Prime Minister and the Minister of Agriculture. We are continuing talks with the cabinet on the […] issues. Let it be clear […]: we expect real steps from the cabinet,” Sjoerd Van der Tak, chairman of farmers’ organisation LTO Nederland, wrote in a statement regarding the negotiations.

LTO emphasised four important topics that are still to be resolved: the financing of agrarian nature- and landscape management, protection of farmers that want to continue farming, fertiliser and land-based farming, as well as the handling of the so-called ‘PAS-melders’ – farmers who, without any fault of their own, work without environmental permits due to changes in legislation.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte (VVD/Renew) visited the negotiation table in the early hours of Thursday after returning from the Council of Europe summit in Reykjavik.

“The state of affairs is that there has been very hard work over the past few months, including all day yesterday and last night. There is still a lot of work to be done, and we have made arrangements on how we will shape that going forward,” Rutte commented.

According to Adema, negotiations will likely continue for weeks, despite the minister stating earlier that it is “crucial” that the accord be concluded this month.

“We want to have a fully-fledged agreement and also an agreement with broad support. We all have an interest in that,” Adema stated.

(Benedikt Stöckl | EURACTIV.com)