Agriculture Minister Jaimi van Essen (D66) agrees with the National Ombudsman’s criticism that the government has been unreliable for farmers in recent years.
“That is correct, just as the Ombudsman notes that farmers and horticulturalists have been dealing with proposals that change too often for far too long,” Van Essen said.
According to the ombudsman, farmers have not known where they stood over the past ten years because of “changing rules, contradictory policies and unclear decisions”.
He believes the government must “acknowledge what went wrong and what consequences that has had for farmers and their families. Only then can farmers move forward with their businesses and their lives.”
Van Essen said he would take the ombudsman’s recommendations to heart. Ombudsman Reinier van Zutphen has called on the government to enshrine long-term goals for farmers in law firmly.
Van Essen said he plans to do the same with his recently presented nitrogen policy. “Agricultural entrepreneurs need to know where they stand.”
@anp| NEWS BRAINPORT
