We can overthrow the prime minister and form a government, say Dutch Farmers Party leaders

Albert Hoyer (right) fears that Gus, his 31-year-old son (left), will transition his farm into the fourth generation of family ownership Photo : JULIAN SIMMONDS

Each morning, Albert Hoyer wakes up at a quarter to six to start a 14-hour day tending to his 110 cows and 50 sheep in the quiet town of Vesp, near Amsterdam.< /p>

It's a daily routine. 64-year-old man in the bones and in the blood. He has been a dairy farmer, like his father and grandfather before him, since he was 15.

But Mr. Hoijer fears that Gus, his 31-year-old son, will follow in his footsteps and take the lead . farm in the fourth generation of family ownership.

Hooijer Melkveehouderij is at the forefront of the Netherlands' nitrogen crisis, which threatens to shut it down forever and oust Mark Rutte, the country's longest-serving prime minister.

«I wish the farm continued, but we're dying a slow death ,» Mr Hoyer told The Telegraph at his farm, which produces the milk for the world-famous Leerdammer cheese.

“Today, farming is more difficult than it used to be. There are more rules and regulations. I want people to understand that if we harm farmers, we harm society as a whole.

«People do not realize how much they need farmers and the products they produce.»

< img src="/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/01c05a7a6092a5ad4c199865e0aed696.jpg" /> Albert Hoyer says 'farming is harder than it used to be' Photo: JULIAN SIMMONDS.

In a desperate bid to meet EU climate change targets, Mr Rutte has supported mandatory farm buyouts and strict livestock restrictions to halve nitrogen emissions by 2030.

Hooijer Farm is particularly vulnerable because it is located approximately half a mile from two EU-protected Natura 2000 wetlands, and nitrogen is released from manure and fertilizer.

The buyout plan has sparked open warfare between the center-right prime minister and his allies in The Hague and angry farmers from the countryside.

Farmers launched an anti-tractor protest campaign that saw tens of thousands of people waving an inverted Dutch flag and violent clashes with police.

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This fueled unsubstantiated claims of «global land grab» and that farms are being cleared to house asylum seekers as the fight is taken up by US conservatives, far-right politicians in Europe and an army of internet conspiracy theorists.

Mr. Hoyer and his wife, Irene, have to worry about whether their farm will be among the ones to close despite their insistence that it is environmentally sustainable.

After many years of onerous regulations and economic pressures, some farmers in Vespa might be tempted to take the money and leave, but not the Hoodgers. Mr. Hoyer is nervous as he waits to see if his farm is among those due to close. Photo: JULIAN SIMMONDS

“Never,” Irene said on a sunny terrace near a high-ceilinged farm full of family photos and cow-themed art, where she raised four children.

Even if Hooijer Farm is spared, other possible measures such as like limiting the number of cows to two in a field the size of a soccer ball can still lead to disaster.

“There shouldn’t be any reason why my son can’t take over, but he will need to expand the farm because everything is getting more and more expensive,” Mr. Hoyer said, before explaining what that would be. impossible if livestock were limited.

The Netherlands has a proud farming tradition and its members have historically voted to form right-wing parties.

It is the world's second largest agricultural exporter, second only to The United States, despite being only 16,000 square miles.

2406 major Dutch food exporter

“We Dutch farmers are out in nature every day producing healthy food. supply for the country with dedication and a lot of knowledge. We care for the land, care for nature and work with nature,” said Mr. Hoyer.

“But we feel the pressure and the farmers feel helpless and insecure,” he said.

Another son of Gus and Mr. Heuger, Bart, is also a dairy farmer. , has joined the tractor workers' protests after the government provided billions in funding for emission cuts and buybacks last year.

After 40 years of supporting the ruling coalition's right-wing Christian Democratic Appeal party, Mr Hoyer has moved to the new Citizen Farmers Movement (BBB).

“When politicians are elected, the people bring them to power. But they tend to forget who really brought them to power,” he said.

After months of protests, marked by traffic jams in cities and blocked food distribution centers, Dutch voters sent Mr Rutte an unmistakable reminder of who's boss.

Farmers have launched a protest campaign against tractors. Photo: ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN/AFP

The BBB, which was only founded in 2019 and had a single MP in leader Caroline van der Plas, won a landslide victory in the provincial elections in May.

It came out of nowhere to become the largest party in all 12 Dutch provinces , gaining support from both urban and rural areas, in a de facto referendum on Mr. Rutte's long-term leadership.

«People, what the hell happened?» Ms van der Plas, a former journalist and outspoken daughter of a farmer, roared ahead of her victory speech.

«This is not the result we expected,» said a reserved Rutte, before promising that his coalition will survive the political earthquake.

The BBB is now a powerful player in the Dutch Senate and is forcing Rutte to think twice about his plans.

Party supporters now hang the Dutch tricolor in the correct direction as a sign of their triumph, but the BBB is not satisfied — it is hunting the government.

Caroline van der Plas (centre) was surprised by the May provincial elections. Photo: Sem van der Wal/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock. convened by the end of the year rather than the legal deadline of March 2025.

Polls released on Wednesday showed the BBB would be a party of equal size to Mr Rutte's VVD if elections were called now . This week, Ms van der Plas called for a limit on the number of asylum seekers as she sought to consolidate her new influence.

Ms van der Plas says she has no ambition to become prime minister, but has also said «never say never».

Under the Dutch proportional representation system, the BBB must enter the government as part of a coalition. with other parties. Some have already banded together to strip the BBB of power in city councils after the local elections.

The BBB is also planning to take the fight to Brussels in the 2024 European elections, which will be the BBB's third election campaign. in just 14 months.

2406 elections in the Netherlands

“The coalition will not survive. Sometime in November or December we will have new elections,” said Eric Steginck, 56-year-old chairman of the BBB.

“Our candidates are ready and our program is ready. Yes, I think we can be in government and we are organized to do so.”

Grabping for levers of power may seem like an unlikely proposition for a third generation pig farmer in a family business with 500 sows and 12 acres of land. in the eastern province of Overijssel.

Before the BBB turned Dutch politics on its head, Steginka's Piggy's Palace farm was best known for producing the world's first pig's milk cheese, which costs £1,300 a pound.

Erik Stegink's Piggy's Palace farm was best known for producing the first pig milk cheese. Photo: SIMON WOHLFAHRT/AFP

But Mr Steginck had 26 years in local politics and agriculture before teaming up with the «authentic» Ms van der Plas when she founded the BBB.

Party membership now stands at 14,000 people, he said, and their number is growing. by about 1,000 per month since the victory in March.

“It's not just about nitrogen. It's about the suburbs. The small village is forgotten in the new politics. There is a forgotten world in Holland and the voters wanted to say there could be another way, and they did it,” said Mr. Stegink.

Problems with transportation, education, tax evasion, water and gas were seen as as important as nitrogen, he said, while people were tired of Mr. Rutte.

The BBB manifesto addresses other farmers' concerns, including a demand that the public broadcaster begin to subtitle all regional accents, not just rural ones.

Mr. Steginck said the BBB does not dispute the existence of climate change, but added that you need to be realistic about how to deal with it without bankrupting farmers.

But he acknowledged that the party is a broad church that includes some climate skeptics as well as very environmentally minded organic farmers. would love to take the money and close.

The problem was the terms of the sale, he said, which force the selling farmers never to return to farming, even on much smaller plots.

Eric Luyten, 53, national BBB organizer and sixth-generation dairy farmer with 150 cows in the east of the Netherlands.

He said farmers were angry at the EU after Brussels settled farm buyout payments and warned that this is the only way to achieve post-election climate targets.

“Farmers used to be big fans of Europe because of agricultural subsidies, but Euroscepticism is definitely on the rise,” said Mr Luyten.

“BBB doesn't want to leave the EU. They are not for Nexit. But since they are a new party, they also want to listen to arguments, and one day things may change.»

However, Mr. Rutte and his coalition remain the main target of hostility.

«They are now similar to the band playing on the Titanic,” Mr. Luyten said. “People are fed up with this prime minister and the way he always brushes aside issues that are getting worse and worse.”

André Crouvel, who teaches political science at the Free University of Amsterdam, predicted that Rutte would survive the crisis. a storm caused by the BBB's cocktail of nostalgic nativism for farming traditions running out of time and support.

«Some have described the election results as a countryside uprising against the urban elite.

«But the real political battle in the Netherlands has been fought between the fractured far-right populist parties and the moderate right for many years.” — said the assistant professor.

Some «hysterical journalists» described the BBB victory as a «Dutch Brexit» that called into question the government's nitrogen policy, he said.

Dutch farmers hold banners and flags at a protest. Photo: PIROSCHKA VAN DE WOUW/REUTERS

But he said the BBB's success was the last hurray of an aging electorate in a country where new political parties are common, sometimes successful, but rarely survive three elections.

“The elective future is green,” Professor Crowwell said. “Older voters are being replaced by Generation X and Millennials.”

More than 60% of voters voted for one of the parties that wants to reduce nitrogen emissions in the elections, he said, and there is a green majority in the Dutch Senate, he said he.

“The radicalization of farmers is a logical consequence of their loss of power and status. These are the last convulsions of the once powerful group,” he added.

Only a fool would underestimate «Teflon Mark» Rutte, who has skillfully cracked down on a minority in the Dutch Senate since 2010.

formed a new coalition, his fourth, and returned to power.

By 2035, he had set aside £22bn for measures such as farm buyouts.

Mark Rutte (left) and his coalition remain the main target of the feud. Photo: SEM VAN DER WAL/AFP

Long-running negotiations with farmers over an agricultural agreement meant to secure the future of farming broke down last week in bitterness after seven months, leading to another anti-tractor protest in The Hague on Thursday.

The situation got even more complicated due to a court ruling that the Netherlands violated the EU law on the protection of habitats, including Natura 2000 territories.

This stopped new construction projects emitting nitrogen during the housing crisis. According to the government, they cannot resume unless measures are taken to reduce emissions elsewhere.

«Dutch voters have spoken out and the BBB has won a historic victory,» said Cindy Heidra, a spokeswoman for Christianne van der Wahl, Minister for Nitrogen and Nature Conservation.

“We will see to what extent this will affect the policies that we implement,” she added, “However, the fact is that the tasks are very large and that there is no other way out of this impasse, except to reduce nitrogen and greenhouse gas emissions and restore nature.”

The minister said she would try to avoid forced buyouts and suggested innovation and resettlement as other ways to reduce emissions near protected areas.

Far-right groups

Such talk is no match for the extremist elements joining the farmers' cause themselves, which has attracted far-right groups, anti-vaccine and conspiracy theorists deeply distrustful of the mainstream media with «fake news».

They consider Mr. Rutte the World Economic Forum. a puppet for the «great reset»; a fictitious plot to erase national borders and build a global government based on the 2020 King Charles comment.

Experts have identified two far-right elements involved in the protests. One is the Forum for Democracy (FVD) and the other is the Farmers' Defense Force (FDF).

The FDF is notorious for violence and intimidation. In one incident in July, police opened fire on tractor-driven farmers after they tried to break a blockade on a highway.

Ahead of the latest anti-tractor protest on Thursday, some MPs' phone numbers were posted online. in what Mr. Rutte called cowardly intimidation.

Minister Van der Val's house was picketed by farmers last June. After the protests escalated into violence, 10 farmers were sentenced to community service for up to 100 hours.

Ms van der Plas did not escape intimidation. She did not attend a demonstration in The Hague in March out of fear for her safety.

There are people «who are convinced that I am evil,» she said ahead of a demonstration that drew 25,000 people and led the capital to declare state of emergency.

Conspiracies

The heady populist mix has been further intensified by the support of British conspiracy theorists such as former football player David Icke and ex-comedian Russell Brand.

But their influence is barely noticeable compared to that of American political commentator Tucker. Carlson, who until recently hosted his own show on Fox News.

His coverage of the protests helped make them part of the US culture war and brought support to Donald Trump and Elon Musk for the farmers' cause.

Eva Vlaardingerbroek, a Dutch political commentator, has made several appearances on Tucker Carlson Tonight and has also spoken at some farmers' rallies.

Eva Vlaardingerbrook has made several appearances on Tucker Carlson Tonight

She sees herself as the unofficial international spokesperson for what she calls the most profitable, most efficient, hardworking and sustainable farmers in the world, and snipes at Mr. Rutte.

“According to the United Nations, according to the World Economic Forum, according to all supranational organizations such as the EU, we are fighting a global climate crisis,” said the 26-year-old from Amsterdam.

“This is a global agenda day and if they manage to expropriate the land of our farmers, they will try to do it elsewhere,” said the former DIA candidate.

She added: “The globalist land grab is not a conspiracy. What government wouldn't want to try to gain more control over their land and their people? Sorry, that's a sad fact.»

At Weesp, Mr. Hoyer is too preoccupied with the future to worry about predicting a new world order.

«Trump and Musk don't know what they're talking about . The fact that some international groups picked up on certain parts of the protests, I can only shrug it off,” he said.

The global culture war seemed far away among the fields of Weesp. , where the BBB flag flutters from time to time on the flat landscape, and the loudest sound was birdsong.

“Ideally, yes, the farm will last for more than 100 years,” Mr. Hoyer said, before to praise the Dutch countryside as a rare and fertile combination of good soil, water and climate.

“I am convinced that there is a future for farmers and farms in the Netherlands,” he said.

When At this point, he adjusted his blue overalls and went to milk his cows in the evenings, as his family had done every day on this earth for generations.