Boerenzoon from Dussen wants to make a difference in Brussels

Thu May 9, 2024 1:12 pm

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DUSSEN • Over the next four weeks, Brabant farmer’s son Bart Millenaar (27) (VVD) will travel through the country with his Brussels office. He talks to farmers and gardeners in all provinces.

Having grown up on his parents’ farm in Dussen, a pilot farm for agricultural nature management, Bart now wants to use his experience and knowledge of nature-inclusive agriculture for pragmatic European nature policy.

Representing farmers’ voices

As number 7 on the list for the VVD, Bart’s ambition is to be elected as a MEP in the European Parliament on June 6. There he wants to represent the Dutch farmer voice.

Securing the future of farmers

In recent years he worked as a policy advisor to retiring European Parliament member Jan Huitema. Now this farmer’s son in Brussels is going into the country with his office to talk about where Europe needs to take stronger action to safeguard the future of the Dutch farmer.

Not from behind a desk in Brussels

Bart Millenaar: “As the son of a farmer, I know better than anyone that you do not make good rules from behind a desk in Brussels, but together with people who understand the practice and who have their feet in the clay. I look forward to experiencing the diversity of farming activity in the coming weeks.”

“That is exactly what we need to do better in agricultural policy in Europe. You cannot squeeze so much diversity into a straitjacket of Brussels rules. Then things go wrong at some point.”

Own path for greening

Bart wants to advocate for a policy that gives farmers the tools and freedom to choose their own path for greening:

“I want Brussels to urgently focus on the admission of innovations that farmers can use for sustainability. We must start with fertilizer substitutes, new breeding techniques, green crop protection products, feed additives and soil improvers.