LTO Nederland, the interest group for the agricultural sector, has left the Agriculture Collective partnership. According to LTO, the thirteen organizations that make up the collective are too different.
“It is not going to work to squeeze that diversity into one straightjacket,” the chairmen of LTO Netherlands and the subsections LLTB, LTO Noord and ZLTO write in a joint letter to their members.
Founded last October by Farmers Defense Force (FDF), the collective focused on the impact of nitrogen measures on farmers and market gardeners. According to the chairmen, there is too much discussion within the organizations. “About content, tone, accent and style.” In addition, according to them, a lot of time is wasted on “internal dynamics and turbulence”.
Furthermore, without LTO
FDF founder says to continue without LTO. “I only see the benefits of a collaboration,” says Sieta van Keimpema of FDF. “Of course you have discussions within meetings with many different advocates. But didn’t we want to work together?”
Despite those differences, the thirteen organizations went “to the ministry with a shared story,” she said. In addition, farmers would welcome “unity in the sector”.
But that is not enough for the chairmen of LTO. According to them, steps have been taken with the collective, but the results are not “what we hoped for”.
It is unclear what the future looks like for the Agricultural Collective. LTO says it wants to cooperate with parties and is committed “constructively and on the basis of equal goals and values”.
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