Jos Verdam, Renswoude
(Horse farmer who raises foals and ‘young stock’ for dairy farming, with about 70 horses and 60 young stock)
– Are you going to Stroe?
Yes, but I don’t decide until the last minute. I live twenty kilometers away, so I don’t get in the car at 8.00. I’ll head for that area after coffee at ten, ten-thirty if I can still get there. If the traffic is fixed then it makes no sense to get stuck in a traffic jam, and moreover the statement will be made without me. And if the traffic jam resolves in time, I can also decide to go at 11.30 am.
The cabinet plans are a huge breach of the whole of agriculture. We now have to wait and see what the province comes up with. It would be nice if the demonstration would be even bigger than that of October 1, 2019, and then of course you should all go. I hope that non-farmers will also come, because Stroe is located in an area where many companies are located that also depend on agriculture for related products and trade.
– What do the nitrogen plans mean for you?
“Well, I wouldn’t know that myself either. The reduction is 46 percent in the Utrecht part of the Gelderland Valley and 58 percent in the Gelderland part. Renswoude is located between Ede and Scherpenzeel in Gelderland. is clear: is this about 46 percent of the nitrogen emissions in an area, or about 46 percent of the farmers themselves?
– What do you expect from the protest?
I hope the speakers have a different message than last Friday. You notice that there is turmoil among the political parties. They want a broader approach to nitrogen in which other companies will also contribute. I hope to hear that on that field as well.
I hope that the traffic disruption is not too bad, but that there are a lot of participants.
– How far can the resistance go?
Well, once a door is pushed in at a provincial house and then something like this is widely reported in the media. If Feyenoord doesn’t win a European cup, they smash all the windows in the city center and we just think that. There is so much emotion in the farmers, they are so done with the bullshit.
Farmers are white-hot, I noticed myself when Minister Staghouwer wanted to visit me because of a tour of the ChristenUnie. Angry people called anonymously. Then the security region has to think about how to get Staghouwer away when the road is full of tractors, possibly with a helicopter. Well, I can’t wait for that trammelt. The visit has been cancelled.
In any case, I will not participate in actions such as visiting ministers at home and shutting down the food distribution. I hope for playful actions like last week in the Achterhoek. Two diesel trains were stopped there and passengers were offered a lift in electric cars. Those people were home even faster than by train.