Dutch agriculture has been experiencing a lot of uncertainty for five years. Among our eastern neighbours, the image of the Dutch farmer as a leader rather than a stagnant sector still prevails.
This was stated by outgoing Agriculture Minister Pete Adema after consulting with his German colleagues at the Grüne Woche in Berlin. The fact that the nitrogen crisis has not yet been resolved since 2019 can also be seen across the border. “But in general, the Dutch state has always been seen as a proud state and has never been proud.”
He refers first to the phasing out of fuel subsidies, which is also being protested by the farmers who walk around the Berliner Fair with tractors honking their horns during the agricultural fair. “We have already seen this issue addressed by Lin primarily for diesel fuel in the country.”
But there are also German states that are curious about the Dutch approach to nitrogen. For example, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia also has many nutrient polluted areas (NV) where there is a lot of nitrogen in the land and surface water. In the near future, the Netherlands will cooperate extensively with this country in the field of agriculture and will exchange knowledge on nitrogen processing.
Nitrogen Minister Christiane van der Waals was absent from the world's largest agricultural exhibition. Last year, she was unexpectedly forced to take over from Adema, who rushed back to the Netherlands the evening before the opening when it became clear that the Netherlands would lose part of its derogation in 2023.
As a result, agricultural-free zones and buffer zones were created where manure is not allowed to be spread. This was the first time that ADEMA opened the Dutch pavilion at the agricultural exhibition.
