Jan Huitema (born 5 July 1984) is a Dutch politician who served as a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP) from 2014 to 2024. He is a member of the

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( , VVD) is a Conservative liberalism, conservative-liberal List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. The VVD, whose forerunner was the Freedom Party (Netherl ...

(VVD), part of

Renew Europe Renew Europe (or simply Renew) is a liberal, centrist to centre-right, pro-European political group of the European Parliament founded for the ninth European Parliament term. The group is the successor to the Alliance of Liberals and Dem ...

in the European Parliament, until 2019 the

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE; , ADLE) was a transnational alliance between two European political parties, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and the European Democratic Party. ALDE had political ...

Early life and education

Huitema was born as the son of a farmer in

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, ) is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the m ...

. He went to high school in

Sneek Sneek (; ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city southwest of Leeuwarden and the seat of the former municipality of Sneek in the province of Friesland, Netherlands. As of 2011 it is the seat of the municipality of Súdw ...

. Huitema obtained a bachelor's degree in Animal Sciences at

Wageningen University Wageningen University & Research (also known as WUR) is a public university, public research university in Wageningen, Netherlands, specializing in life sciences with a focus on agriculture, technical and engineering subjects. It is a globally i ...

and followed this up with a master's degree in Animal Production Systems at the same university in 2008.

Career

Huitema started working as a policy employee for Dutch member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

(MEP) Jan Mulder in 2008 and worked for him until 2009. He worked a further three years in the same position for Holger Krahmer, a German

Free Democratic Party Free Democratic Party is the name of several political parties around the world. It usually designates a party ideologically based on liberalism. Current parties with that name include: *Free Democratic Party (Germany), a liberal political party in ...

MEP. In 2012 he decided to return to the family farm. Together with his father Huitema owns a dairy farm with 130 cows based in Makkinga. He was placed sixth on the

's list of candidates for the 2014 European Parliament elections. Huitema stated that while working for MEPs he saw numerous reports, opinions and proposals which looked great in theory but were in practice infeasible, specifically targeting new parts of the

Common Agricultural Policy The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the agricultural policy of the European Commission. It implements a system of agricultural subsidies and other programmes. It was introduced in 1962 and has since then undergone several changes to reduce ...

. He campaigned the country by touring with a 1954

Fordson Fordson was a brand name of tractors and trucks. It was used on a range of mass-produced general-purpose tractors manufactured by Henry Ford & Son Inc from 1917 to 1920, by Ford Motor Company (U.S.) and Ford Motor Company Ltd (U.K.) from 1920 ...

Dexta tractor. His slogan for entering the European Parliament was: "Brussels could use some farmers wisdom".

Member of the European Parliament, 2014–2024

Huitema received 25,798 votes and on the basis of those preferential votes he managed to obtain the third place among the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy candidates and was thereby elected. After his election he stated it was his intention to return to the family farm every weekend to see what is going on in the Netherlands as not to lose touch with the country. During his first term from 2014 until 2019, Huitema was a member of the

Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) is a committee of the European Parliament. Responsibilities of the Committee AGRI is the European Parliament committee responsible for: #The operation and development of the Common Agricul ...

(AGRI) and the Delegation for relations with

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. He was the first Dutch MEP in five years on the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development; on the committee, he has served as

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Eur ...

on fertiliser products and

water reuse Water reclamation is the process of converting municipal wastewater or sewage and industrial wastewater into water that can be reused for a variety of purposes. It is also called wastewater reuse, water reuse or water recycling. There are many ty ...

(2018) as well as on emission performance standards for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (2021). During his first term Huitema worked on a change in the definition of animal manure and prevention of the

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

ing of plant-properties. In 2019, Huitema joined the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. In addition to his committee assignments, Huitema serves as a member of the Parliament's delegation for relations with the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He is also part of the European Parliament Intergroup on Biodiversity, Countryside, Hunting and Recreational Fisheries the European Parliament Intergroup on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development, and the

European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights The European Parliament Intergroup on LGBTI Rights is an intergroup of the European Parliament's legislators which focuses on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons both inside and outside the European Uni ...

. Huitema was re-elected in the European Parliament elections of 2019. He was not on the ballot in June 2024, and his membership of the body ended on 15 July 2024.

Political positions

In an interview with a

Nederlandse Omroep Stichting The (; NOS or rarely ; ) is one of the broadcasting organisations making up the Dutch public broadcasting system. It has a special statutory obligation to make news and sports programmes for the three Dutch public television channels and the ...

reporter Huitema stated he would not only represent the interest of farmers, but will also focus on entrepreneurship and regional interests. As one of the policy problems of the European Union he gave the example of the

manure Manure is organic matter that is used as organic fertilizer in agriculture. Most manure consists of animal feces; other sources include compost and green manure. Manures contribute to the fertility of soil by adding organic matter and nut ...

policy which does not take national differences into consideration. In November 2014, Huitema together with fellow Dutch MEP Annie Schreijer-Pierik, was critical of the

Natura 2000 Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respectiv ...

policy. They stated that farmers in nature reserves near border regions were especially and unfairly affected by the national implications of the European Natura 2000 policy. Huitema argued for a fundamental discussion on the Natura 2000 policy. Huitema has argued for the immediate closure of

battery cage Battery cages are a housing system used by factory farms for various animal production methods, but primarily for egg-laying hens. The name arises from the arrangement of rows and columns of identical cages connected, in a unit, as in an artill ...

s in the European Union. These have been illegal in the European Union since 2012, but some still exist. Huitema argued that these are damaging the Dutch poultry industry as Dutch farms already have invested in more animal friendly cages.

References

External links

Official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huitema, Jan 1984 births Living people 21st-century Dutch farmers MEPs for the Netherlands 2014–2019 MEPs for the Netherlands 2019–2024 People from Heerenveen People's Party for Freedom and Democracy politicians People's Party for Freedom and Democracy MEPs Wageningen University and Research alumni