Root: “I can’t get rid of my worries” | interior

Rutte visited the dairy farmers for the third time in a short time, this time in Kodom in Friesland. The Prime Minister spoke to several farmers in the garden of the family business of Anton, Tiny and Arjan Stokman, about the looming nitrogen threats in the strip. The Prime Minister reiterated his earlier words, “I cannot remove concerns in such a conversation.”

Watch here how farmers view Remkes as a mediator between Cabinet and farmers. The article continues below the video.

“It got worse”

After the conversation, Jr. Arjan said he still lacked a perspective for the sector. “During the conversation, Ruti said that communications from the Cabinet, including those regarding this nitrogen map, have worsened,” Arjan says. But I haven’t received any promises beyond that.”

The farmer’s son – who told Rutte about innovative manure digestion and other innovations in the barns of about 280 cows – hopes the prime minister will gain more insight and that policy will not be decided by The Hague, which feels unfair. they change? The family business wants it, just like many others. Compare that to making your home more sustainable. Instead of forcing it, you should seduce people. This resistance has now arisen, while it is better to devise solutions with farmers.”

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The Stokman family stables are located in a small, newly identified area of ​​Natura2000, which means a 47 percent reduction is needed in Nature Minister Christian van der Waal’s nitrogen map. “But you can also do it differently than buying farmers,” says Arjan, who, in addition to the innovative stables, also explained the bath in which the cows can relax, the so-called JaKoeZie. How did the Prime Minister reach them? “Oh, my father has sent an email to the ministry. Queen Maxima has been here before to see the new stable.”

Rutte did not answer substantive questions in the run-up to talks with the farm parties that begin on Friday. “Everything I say about him in the preview does not help,” the prime minister said. When asked how he can further innovate the sector, he said that this is “part of the discussions we will have in the future”. Then Rota thinks about the innovation that “has to result in something” and wants to see if it can then be “adopted”.

“Flipped flags are a way to show respect”

When asked, Rutte still had an opinion about the many farmers’ protests and the upturned Dutch flags hanging around the country. The inverted tricolor is called a “demonstration to be respected”. “I like it more when it’s red-white-blue. But I think the opposite is only within the law. I don’t like it myself, but I respect that.”