State of affairs
Enthusiastic Minister
In 2002 the management of the Twickel Foundation was introduced to the idea ‘Farming for Nature' and saw an opportunity to improve the future perspective of the estate as well as that of the tenants. They approached Alterra to work out a plan. This resulted in a meeting in January 2003 with, apart from the delegates, members of the district water board, local councillors, members of parliament and Minister Veerman of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. The minister was very enthusiastic about the rural pilot ‘Farming for Nature' at the Twickel Estate and was prepared to make funds available, but only if local parties would do so as well.
For the project a steering committee and a project group were formed. The steering committee consists of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, the managers of the Twickel Foundation, the Province of Overijssel, the Municipality Hof van Twente, the region of Twente and the district water board Regge en Dinkel. The project group consists of: the vice-steward of Twickel, the tenant commission of Twickel, Alterra, the province of Overijssel, the district water board, the Government Service for Land and Water Management, and the Regional Office of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality.
First plans are ready
In 2003 the possibilities for Farming for Nature were looked into by Alterra and the zest amongst the tenants was sounded. Most of the tenants were positively sceptical about the idea. Concrete plans were designed for ten farms to be transformed into a nature oriented or a landscape oriented farm. These management plans were put together in the ‘Farming for Nature at Twickel, first phase' (confidential; not retrievable).
Fundraising and approval EC
The steering committee was successful in finding financiers for the pilot project. But the fundraising could only begin after a state aide procedure for ‘Farming for Nature'. In July 2006 the EC declared there was no objection against the methodology of compensation for the nature oriented farm according to the idea ‘Farming for Nature'. The approval was only given for the two pilot projects, on the basis of calculations for the dairy farms. August 2007 an additional request was made in Brussels for farms with suckler cows and sheep. A few months later this was approved as well.
In the report ‘Farming for Nature, an Economic Approach' (link) models are described by which the loss of income for the different farm types is assessed. Also the methodology is described according to which the economic evaluation in 5 to 10 years has to be carried out. Through this evaluation Brussels stays informed about the amount of compensation that ‘Farming for Nature' farmers receive.
The idea of the landscape oriented farms was embraced by Brussels, but in the decision of 2006 it was stated that the development of new landscape elements was supposed to be done with the existing instruments (the national AES SN). The project committee is looking for ways to make sure that the landscape oriented business, which is very important for Twickel, can still be realized. Possibly the catalogue Green-blue Services offers a solution (see: www.catalogusgroenblauwediensten.nl).
Finally the start
January 1st 2008 three nature oriented farms started with the pilot ‘Farming for Nature' at Twickel. To see what will be the results of ‘Farming for Nature' in the future, many aspects have to be monitored. Many parties are involved in this. The developments of the farms regarding agriculture, nature and the farm profits will be monitored securely over the next years. In cooperation with the farmers and other stakeholders it was decided what needs to be recorded. For the monitoring of the bird population there is cooperation with the volunteers of the Vogelwerkgroep Twente (Bird Study Group Twente). The district water board Regge en Dinkel helps with the monitoring of the water levels. It is set down in detail with the farmers in what places exact numbers and details have to be recorded about soil fertility and ground water levels; they can play a role themselves in the recording of some of the relevant data. The Government Service for Land and Water Management is involved with the architecture of the landscape. This is mainly for the rearranging of the water levels. The district water board Regge en Dinkel decides what water levels need to be realized. Concrete agreements were made with a consultancy bureau to closely monitor the effects of the ‘Farming for Nature' project on the social surroundings. Activities are organized to get to know more about fish stock, crops and soil fertility and flora- and fauna mapping. The results of the monitoring will be recorded in a yearly report. These reports can be found on the pages Publication (link) on this website.