2023-09-08 17:18:20
At first glance it is an ordinary, everyday image. Dairy farmer Leonie Rouw gets on her bike and turns from the farm onto the public road. To do some shopping in the center of Goes, barely ten minutes away. “I used to do that without thinking: just take some time off,” she says. “But that’s over.”
The once trivial city visit is one of the key scenes in the documentary The pain in the countryside, in which documentary maker Margo de Haas follows four farmers. De Haas mainly wants to show what the polarized discussion regarding agriculture does to the four women.
She did this in response to a free assignment from farmers’ organization ZLTO; the film will be shown for the first time on Saturday to a group of regarding 200 farmers and other interested parties – only women are welcome – in Oisterwijk.
New stable
All four farmers experience a general lack of appreciation. They all also believe that politicians, citizens and media are quick to judge, without having an idea of daily farming practice. But with no one does that feeling become as personal as with Rouw.
Her company has been planning a new, modern stable for a number of years. With milking robots, more attention is paid to the environment and animal welfare. And the added advantage is that the calves, which are now with another farmer, can be given a place on their own property. Opponents of the new building ‘turned it into a completely different story’, says Rouw in the documentary. There was a lot of resistance, and even a lawsuit.
This headwind also affects Leonie Rouw in her personal well-being. “It makes me not really feel safe anywhere anymore.” Not at home, but certainly not when she goes into town. “You are very on your guard,” she says in the documentary, as she walks through the center of Goes. “Fortunately I don’t see many people I know, but I prefer to go home.”
Story of four farmers’ wives
Documentary maker Margo de Haas does not discuss the issue surrounding the stable in detail. “I especially wanted to know what the polarization in discussions regarding agriculture is doing to these four farmers.” In talk shows, it is often the contradictions that dominate, she notes. “With the two opinions that stir the most. But the nuance is missing.”
It is usually farmers’ wives who experience the most of all this social discussion. The age-old image of farms – although it may be a bit cliché in 2023 – is that the farmer is often busy on his own farm. While the farmer’s wife often takes care of the arrangements, administration and contact with the outside world.
What do you think is the common thread between the stories of these four farmers?
De Haas: “That there is a lot going on beneath the surface at farms. They all feel a kind of despair regarding the future. Do I still have a future as a farmer? What will that look like? Everyone deals with this in a different way. Some people do this more by fighting for preservation, others more by changing.
“Marije (22), the youngest farmer I followed, would actually like to continue with the cows on her parents’ farm. But it is not without reason that she started breeding morio worms (suitable for consumption, ed.): that seems like a smarter choice for the future. The age difference plays a role in this. They are all willing to make innovations, but as a young farmer she has to look further ahead.”
What do you hope to achieve with this documentary?
“That there will be more empathy for the people behind the company. The pain they feel, the uncertainty regarding the future, is a universal pain. When Leonie says that her youngest child is being bullied because she comes from the farm: everyone can empathize with that. Sometimes you see desperation in these farmers, but certainly also the fighting spirit and strength. I hope that people who are further away from the agricultural sector will also recognize those emotions, and that this will lead to relief.”
Isn’t that pain broader than these four farmers from mainstream companies? Perhaps an animal activist and a very left-wing organic farmer feel the same way.
“I’ve thought regarding that. But then it quickly becomes two opposing opinions once more. I wanted to give more insight into the world of experience. In what these farmers feel and think. And what the polarization in society does to them.”
Confidence in the future
In the last film footage of the documentary, Leonie Rouw looks out over her own grassland. Fear of negative reactions or not, she still likes to be among the cows. That still outweighs all the negativity. “I do have confidence in the future,” she says. “Somehow things will work out. With what plan and how? I do not know. But it will work out somewhere, one way or the other.”
‘I miss the appreciation for what we do’
Madeleine Bartelen (55) is one of the four farmers in the documentary. She and her husband Peter have had an arable farm in Oud-Gastel in West Brabant for over thirty years.
“A lot has changed in the last ten years, both in society and in legislation and regulations. On average, I spend two to three days in the office keeping up with the administration. When we first got married, it still fit in a roll-top desk: it contained everything. Now in the documentary you see a whole cupboard full of folders.
“I miss the appreciation for what we all do. We maintain the countryside and we provide food. For seed potatoes, for example: potatoes that farmers all over the world can use to grow high-quality consumption potatoes. We can be very proud of that.
“I see how a potato like that goes into the ground. How we spend months trying to get it to grow optimally. How the men are dragging reels to irrigate them when it is dry. Until the harvest. We are now harvesting the potatoes, those are long days. I then work in the barn myself and prepare food for eight or thirteen people, which I take to the fields.
“As a farmer, I don’t feel personally looked at or judged. But when I look at discussions in the media and politics, it sometimes makes me despondent. Then I turn off the TV: I don’t want to hear all that negativity all the time. How do we solve that? To talk. Getting closer together.
“We try to do that by receiving people. We have a reception hall here, a location for courses and groups. Everyone is welcome. It is not wrong at all if someone questions something. But now people mainly talk regarding us, not with us. I hope that there will be more understanding of what we are up once morest, so that people will also become more careful in their statements. I hope this documentary contributes to that.”
Also read:
Two philosophers debate polarization. How come we don’t listen to each other anymore?
Philosophers ask the question: What is true? Philosophers Katrien Schaubroeck and Catherine Koekoek on polarization and public debate. ‘Anyone who knows for sure how to do it is certainly wrong.’
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