Dutch farmers’ pressure groups advocate against 'calendar agriculture' (Hiddink, 2023). Calendar agriculture is implemented by the Dutch government to improve water quality, because controlling the planting of nitrogen-absorbing crops, also controls the amount of nitrogen that washes out into the waters. Farmers are against this regulation because crops do not grow as a calendar dictates but as nature tells them to do. In this blog post, I will explain that calendar agriculture is linked to time a priori, whereas time a posteriori is connected with nature. These two concepts imply different ways in which humans relate to nature. Consequently, the criticism of the farmers' pressure groups is not only based on economic considerations. As Hiddink (2023) argues, it is a clash in how people interpret the human-nature relationship. This clash is one of the reasons why the nitrogen crisis, which started as a policy issue, developed into a climate-induced conflict. This conflict is on how to reduce the ammonia emissions that evaporate in the air and washes out from agricultural land into the Dutch waters. These emissions harm the Dutch Natura 2000 areas, areas with habitats that are protected by European and Dutch law. These habitats are already vulnerable due to climate change. The minister of nitrogen and nature, Van der Wal, published a map showing the nitrogen reduction goals (Van der Wal 2022, 5). Farmers interpreted this as a map showing which farms should end their business to reach target nitrogen reduction goals, which made them very angry. As a result, the Dutch summer of 2022 was full of protests by farmers and extremist actions during the summer of 2022.

Time

The philosopher Kant (Kant, 1889) described time and space as the two entities that frame our perception and thinking about the world. From this moment on, physicists considered ‘time’ long as stable and absolute. This idea also influenced the modernization worldview (Arnold, 2007; Buisman & De Vet, 2007; Latour, 2016). This is, for example, reflected in how we measure and control things: we use variables like time, date, and place as the stable fields that need to be filled in with numbers. At the same time, we experience that time is relative. If you have to do a boring task, that task seems to take forever. Although this is known, time concepts are hardly researched in the scientific debate on climate change and are not part of the discussion about climate-induced conflicts (Krznaric, 2020). However, as Hidding (2023) writes, the different concepts of time are causing a clash. The Netherlands Agricultural and Horticultural Association (LTO in Dutch, red.), a pressure group advocating for the economic and social position of farmers and the agricultural sector, and Vavi, the Association for the potato processing industry, say crops grow when nature is ready. The Ministry of Agriculture, in contrast, says crops should follow the timeline the Ministry designed.

A priori and a posteriori

A priori and a posteriori are two concepts in the field of epistemology (Kant, 1889). This pair describes the difference between the knowledge we get by perceiving and the knowledge we get by logical deduction. To illustrate this, let’s look at the following two examples. This first is an instance of a priori knowledge. Assume that if Jean comes to the party, then Hannah will come also. When we know that Jean will come to the party, we can deduce the conclusion that Hannah will come too. A posteriori knowledge, in contrast, is achieved when I, for example, burn my tongue at a cup of tea and then conclude from this experience that the tea was hot. 

Time a priori and time a posteriori

When observing how people use time, I distinguish two different concepts of time: time a priori and time a posteriori. When we use time a priori, we interpret time mathematically. We describe time by referring to a clock that divides time into measurable blocks. These blocks can run from extremely big, when we refer to geological time, to extremely small, for example, at cycling races. We use this type of time to measure actions, make appointments, and set deadlines. 

The other concept of time, time interpreted as a posteriori, is the time we experience. Often this is connected to nature. For example, the seasons in the Netherlands divide the year into four parts. But these parts are not mathematically defined, although we say that spring starts on the 21^st of March (or on the 1^st of March, according to meteorologists). But this year, we experienced a cold and wet spring, so we say, ‘We are still waiting for spring’. Consequently, farmers are waiting to plant crops. So, we adapt our behavior to nature, which tells us when it is time.  

 Time and its influence on the human-nature relationship

Thus, we have two different concepts of time that not only differ in how we understand time but also differ in how we use time. This brings me to the conflict between farmers and the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature, and Fisheries regarding 'calendar agriculture’. Although invented by the Ministry, ‘calendar agriculture’ is a contradiction in the ears of a farmer. Agriculture depends on weather conditions, groundwater levels, and the health of crops and livestock. While farmers can respond to these circumstances, they cannot alter them or impose their will on nature.

Calendar agriculture turns this relationship upside down: our calendar decides when it is time to plant potatoes and when a farmer must harvest them. This is because the calendar dictates that another crop needs to grow on the soil to solve the nitrogen problem created by us, humans. Thus, nature must follow our calendar and is used as a means to, in this case, solve one of our problems.

Farmers, in contrast, not only use nature as a means but also respect nature. As the saying goes, 'You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.' Nature has its own timing, and farmers must work in harmony with it rather than against it. The calendar may provide some guidance, but ultimately, the farmer must rely on their knowledge of the land and the weather to make the best decisions for their crops and livestock.

 Different time concepts contribute to the Dutch Nitrogen Crisis

The news that farmers are angry with the Dutch state because the state dictates when it is time to plant certain crops and harvest them, while farmers argue that nature lets us know when it is time for these crops. In this blogpost, I showed that this relates to two different time concepts: time a priori, clock and calendar time, and time a posteriori, the time nature is showing us.

In many circumstances, a priori time and a posteriori time are interchangeable. It does not really matter whether I start eating when it is time for dinner or when I am hungry. But in this case, it is not simply that different time concepts are opposed to each other. They are loaded with values, which are expressed by the human-nature relationship the actors hold. The state believes that we, humans, can master nature. From this type of relationship, calendar agriculture follows logically. Farmers have a different value system. Nature can be managed, but in the end, the elements of nature are in power and not human beings. “If it is wet, it is wet. If it is dry, it is dry”, said one of the farmers in my research project. It is due to these conflicting value systems, of which time is an example, that the Dutch nitrogen crisis developed into a climate-induced conflict.

References

Arnold, E. (2007). “Schitterend wonderwerk”: Het goddelijke ontwerp in de natuur. Fysicotheologie en het “argument from design” rond 1800. In E. Van der Wall & L. Wessels (Eds.), Een veelzijdige verstandhouding. Religie en Verlichting in Nederland 1650-1850. (pp. 324–334). Vantilt.

Buisman, J. W., & De Vet, J. (2007). Rede, openbaring, en de strijd tegen bijgeloof: de vroege Verlichting in de republiek. In E. Van der Wall & L. Wessels (Eds.), Een veelzijdige verstandhouding. Religie en Verlichting in Nederland 1650-1850. (pp. 75–87). Vantilt.

Hiddink, J. (2023). LTO en Vavi: impact gewaslijst enorm voor aardappeltelers op zand en loss Nieuweoogst. https://www.nieuweoogst.nl/nieuws/2023/04/20/lto-en-vavi-impact-gewaslijst-enorm-voor-aardappeltelers-op-zand-en-loss.

Kant, I. (1789). Kritik der reinen Vernunft. Mit einer Einleitung und Anmerkungen. (E. Adickes, Ed.; 2nd ed.). Mayer & Müller.

Krznaric, R. (2020). The Good Ancestor, How to Think Long Term in a Short-Term World. Penguin Random House UK.

Latour, B. (2016). Wij zijn nooit modern geweest. Pleidooi voor een symmetrische antropologie (2nd rev. transl). Boom.

Wal, C. van der. (2022). Kamerbrief Startnotitie Nationaal Programma Landelijk Gebied. Ministerie van Landbouw, Natuur en Voedselkwaliteit, 10 juni 2022. https://www.aanpakstikstof.nl/de-stikstofaanpak/kamerbrieven