The College of Government Advisors advocates in advice to Agriculture Minister Carola Schouten for a new deal between farmers and society. The LNV advisors say that the Netherlands must move towards 'landscape-inclusive agriculture.'
In this approach, farmers should receive a fair income for producing healthy food and for maintaining an attractive, accessible, and biodiverse landscape. Caring for clean water, clean air, and a vital soil should be a given.
The college advises the cabinet to set clear, ambitious, and realistic goals for the agricultural use of the Netherlands in terms of climate, biodiversity, soil, water, and landscape. This way, the agricultural sector knows the direction the Netherlands is heading. Many farmers are willing to cooperate in the transition of agriculture but ask for clarity and consistent policy from the government.
The Government Advisors also recommend that the state help develop future-proof earning models for landscape-inclusive agriculture. This transition will only succeed if farmers receive a good price for their products and services, so they have sufficient capacity to sustainably maintain the landscape. The government must ensure that farmers receive realistic compensation.
Advisor Berno Strootman said about this: “It is high time to make agriculture landscape-inclusive. The three pilot projects provide an idea of how that could be done. As a society, we demand a lot from farmers, so we must put our words into action and enable the desired changes through new earning models and the right support.”
The College of Government Advisors presented their introductory document Panorama Netherlands more than two years ago, already calling then for a New Deal between farmers and society. In the past two years, this has been tested in three regional pilot projects: on peat (Krimpenerwaard), on clay (De Marne), and on sand (Salland).
According to the now consolidated advice from these three projects, a sustainable, viable agricultural system in an attractive and biodiverse landscape is possible. It also shows which new earning models are conceivable and what is needed to bring them closer. Furthermore, it identifies the opportunities and inhibiting factors to achieve such a transition.
In each pilot of the three projects, a team of advisors from the College of Government Advisors, the Louis Bolk Institute, the Landscape Knowledge Centre of the University of Groningen, and a landscape architecture firm collaborated with local and regional stakeholders, farmers, agricultural collectives, landscape and nature organizations, water boards, municipalities, and provinces.