Femke Wiersma

Femke Marije Wiersma (born 29 December 1984) is a Dutch agricultural lobbyist and politician of the Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB). She is a member of the House of Representatives since November 2025. She served as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature in the Schoof cabinet between July 2024 and February 2026. 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. After her parents divorced a year later, she was raised by her mother, who was struggling with poverty. Wiersma took care of horses in her childhood, and she attended secondary education at and at levels in Dokkum. Wiersma joined the Royal Netherlands Navy in 2002, serving as a sailor on the HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck in locations such as the Mediterranean Sea. She was subsequently stationed at a Texel navy base before leaving the military in 2006. She completed training in social work in 2007, and she joined the Dantumadiel and Dongeradeel municipalities the following year as a care consultant, assessing the eligibility of citizens for municipal support programs.

She helped establish the BBB's Friesland chapter starting in 2021, and she was on the ballot in the province in the 2023 provincial elections, in which the BBB won fourteen council seats in Friesland (and a total of 137 across the Netherlands). She eliminated budgets for fair trade and LGBTQ policy, arguing they were not "core tasks" of the province, and she halted construction of nature-friendly shores against the advice of her staff. In the midst of the nitrogen crisis, she believed nitrogen emissions resulting from the construction could better be allocated to farmers left without permits after a 2019 Court of State ruling. Construction was later resumed using emissions-free equipment.

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. The coalition agreement reduced the fund allocated towards addressing the nitrogen crisis from €25 billion to €5 billion. She presented the outline of her alternative plans and a provisional breakdown of the €5 billion in funding in late November 2024. Wiersma aimed to increase agricultural lands designated as nature reserves from to by expanding subsidies for farmers. The cabinet allocated between €1.25 billion and €2.5 billion towards innovations to reduce nitrogen emissions, and Wiersma planned to set emissions targets for farms instead of prescribing certain measures. The same amount would be available for a voluntary buyout scheme for farmers considering to leave the sector. Wiersma had proposed allocating a larger share to innovation over buyouts, but cabinet members of the VVD and NSC blocked this approach. Furthermore, Wiersma plans to postpone enforcement of nitrogen emissions regulations for a group of farmers left without a permit due to a 2019 Court of State ruling for another three years. The responded that farmers would remain uncertain about their future because of the latter.

Wiersma announced she would suspend her predecessor's promised ban on electric cattle prods during transportation. Opposition parties accused her of ignoring parliamentary directions, while coalition parties VVD and NSC considered introducing legislation to force a ban. Wiersma argued a ban violated the coalition agreement's commitment against regulations beyond those required by the European Union, but she later pivoted under pressure.

Personal life Wiersma's first child was born in 2006. After their divorce, she took care of her four children as a single mother. Wiersma later moved to Holwert, where she renovated her house. As of 2024, she was in a relationship with Jord Brinkhuis, whom she had met in 2023.

House of Representatives

Farmer–Citizen Movement