Femke Wiersma
Femke Wiersma | |
---|---|
Wiersma in 2024 | |
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature | |
Incumbent | |
Assumed office 2 July 2024 | |
Prime Minister | Dick Schoof |
Preceded by | Piet Adema |
Member of the Provincial Executive of Friesland | |
In office 19 July 2023 – 2 July 2024 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Femke Marije Wiersma (1984-12-29) 29 December 1984 (age 39) Dokkum, Netherlands |
Political party | BBB (2019–present) |
Spouse | Gijsbert Bakhuisen (m. 2016; div. 2019) |
Children | 4 |
Occupation |
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Femke Marije Wiersma (born 29 December 1984) is a Dutch agricultural lobbyist and politician of the Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB). She has served as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature in the Schoof cabinet since July 2024. Previously, she was a member of the Provincial Executive of Friesland.
Early life and career
Wiersma was born in 1984 in Dokkum, located in Friesland, and she was trained in the Royal Dutch Navy.[1] She completed training in social work in 2007, and she worked as a civil servant.[1][2]
When farmers were increasing their livestock population in anticipation of a phosphate rights system, Wiersma started a campaign on social media platform Facebook in 2015 to protest this incentive. The abolition of a European milk quota that year had led to the Netherlands exceeding its phosphate limit. Wiersma subsequently became a lobbyist for Netwerk GRONDig, which had recently been founded to represent extensive dairy farmers.[1] Starting 2016, she consecutively served as a policy advisor for the Vereniging Behoud Boer & Milieu (circular agriculture) and the Dutch Dairy Farmers' Union [nl].[1][2]
Politics
When the Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB) was founded in 2019, Wiersma became a board member.[1] She participated in the 2021 general election as the BBB's second candidate, behind party leader Caroline van der Plas. Wiersma received 25,588 preference votes, and she was not elected, as the BBB secured one seat in the House of Representatives.[2][3] Wiersma subsequently served as a staffer of the BBB's parliamentary group in the House.[2]
She helped establish the BBB's Friesland chapter starting in 2021, and she was on the ballot in the province in 2023 provincial elections, when the BBB won fourteen council seats.[1] In July 2023, the BBB presented its coalition agreement with the Christian Democratic Appeal, Christian Union, and the Frisian National Party. Wiersma joined the provincial executive and was responsible for agriculture, the Frisian Rural Area Program, and heritage.[4][5] She halted the province's nature and nitrogen policy in June 2024, weeks after a coalition agreement had been reached nationally by the PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB.[1]
Wiersma was sworn in as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature on 2 July 2024 as part of the Schoof cabinet. The ministry was simultaneously renamed, having previously been called the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality.[2][6] The Netherlands had been mandated by the European Union to stop the deterioration of nature in Natura 2000 sites by 2030, and goals with regard to nitrogen deposition had been enshrined in national legislation.[7] In September 2024, Wiersma terminated the National Program for Rural Areas, which had been created by the fourth Rutte cabinet in response to the nitrogen crisis in the Netherlands and which tasked provinces with devising plans to improve the quality of nature and water based on a national fund. She announced that she was creating an alternative policy to tackle the crisis.[8][9]
Personal life
In 2010, she was a participant of the Dutch version of Farmer Wants a Wife, where she met dairy farmer Gijsbert Bakhuisen from Abcoude. They were married from 2016 until 2019.[10][11] After their divorce, she became a single mother of four children.[12][13]
Electoral history
This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (June 2024) |
Year | Body | Party | Pos. | Votes | Result | Ref. | ||
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Party seats | Individual | |||||||
2021 | House of Representatives | Farmer–Citizen Movement | 2 | 25,588 | 1 | Lost | [3] |
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Sie, Puck (26 June 2024). "Vechter voor het gevestigde veehoudersbelang" [Fighter for the interests of the livestock establishment]. Het Financieele Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 27 June 2024.
- ^ a b c d e "Femke Wiersma van Friesland naar Den Haag om voor BBB landbouw te doen" [Femke Wiersma from Friesland to The Hague to work on agriculture for BBB]. NOS (in Dutch). 13 June 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
- ^ a b "Proces-verbaal verkiezingsuitslag Tweede Kamer 2021" [Report of the election results House of Representatives 2021] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 29 March 2021. pp. 155–156. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
- ^ "Kandidaat Femke Wiersma (BBB) over hoe het nu verder moet". www.omropfryslan.nl (in Dutch). 2023-03-16. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
- ^ "Fryslân heeft het jongste college van Gedeputeerde Staten van Nederland: dit zijn ze". www.omropfryslan.nl (in Dutch). 2023-07-13. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
- ^ "Ministers en staatssecretarissen kabinet-Schoof beëdigd" [Ministers and state secretaries of Schoof cabinet sworn in]. NOS (in Dutch). 2 July 2024. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
- ^ Uijtewaal, Rosa (10 September 2024). "Hoeveel speelruimte heeft minister Femke Wiersma in Brussel? Het schrappen van de huidige regels kan wrevel wekken" [How much room does Minister Femke Wiersma have in Brussels? Eliminating current regulations could create resentment]. NRC (in Dutch). Retrieved 11 September 2024.
- ^ Du Pré, Raoul (4 September 2024). "Minister Wiersma stelt het geduld van de Kamer op de proef: de stikstofstrategie is weg, maar waar blijft de nieuwe?" [Minister Wiersma tests the Houses's patience: The nitrogen strategy is gone, but when will its replacement come?]. de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 4 September 2024.
- ^ "Kabinet schrapt huidige stikstofplannen, provincies reageren verrast" [Cabinet eliminates current nitrogen plans, provinces respond surprised]. NU.nl (in Dutch). 4 September 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
- ^ https://www.ad.nl/tv-en-radio/boer-gijsbert-zegt-ja-tegen-zijn-femke~a99042e6/. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
{{cite web}}
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(help) - ^ https://www.ad.nl/show/bzv-boer-gijs-en-femke-krijgen-vierde-kindje~ac600c2a/. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ "'Farmer Wants a Wife' contestant to become Dutch agriculture minister". POLITICO. 2024-06-13. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
- ^ "Farmer Seeks Woman couple Gijsbert and his Frisian Femke split up". 11 June 2019.
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Preceded by | Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature 2024–present | Incumbent |
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