Agriculture Minister Carola Schouten is allocating €9 million for a test to financially support agricultural entrepreneurs in the switch to organic or nature-inclusive agriculture. With this amount, approximately 35 agricultural companies can participate in the Sustainable Agriculture Investment Fund pilot. Reducing nitrogen emissions is a priority.
This was announced by the Minister of Agriculture on Tuesday (13 July). The National Green Fund (NGF) will implement this scheme. The fund speaks of 'gaining experience with this new approach, which responds to sustainable initiatives from the sector itself.'
A maximum of €400.000 is available per company. According to the NGF, the financial conditions are flexible: "Entrepreneurs hardly have to pay interest and do not have to make repayments in the first few years." However, there must be private co-financing. The investments must be partly financed from other sources, such as banks, crowdfunding, other funds or family.
Desired switch
The Investment Fund is starting a pilot phase to gain experience and to see whether the fund meets expectations, the Ministry of Agriculture reports, "to initiate the desired switch to, for example, organic or nature-inclusive agriculture." The NGF emphasizes that this is not about complying with specific measures, but about achieving goals.
A decrease in nitrogen emissions is paramount, according to the NGF. The investment fund also has 7 other specific goals: fewer crop protection products, fewer greenhouse gases, less nitrate leaching, increased biodiversity, better soil, circular use of animal feed and improvement of animal health and welfare. Progress must also be made in at least 4 of these areas, says the NGF.
Financing difficult
The assessment committee that will assess the applications consists of 11 people, almost all of whom, except for a few, have a specialism in nitrogen, circular or nature-inclusive agriculture and biodiversity. This committee includes Jan Willem Erisman, the well-known 'nitrogen professor', Martin Scholten (Wageningen UR) and Alex Datema (Boerennatuur). Datema, herself a dairy farmer, says in the statement of the NSF: "Many farmers and horticulturists want to take new steps in sustainability, but get stuck in ideas. Also because financing is difficult to get. We want to call on those entrepreneurs to come up with concrete plans. come."
The Investment Fund is the core of the Sustainable Agriculture Conversion Program† Ultimately, €175 million will be available under this program through various schemes. A total of €70 million has been earmarked for the investment fund.
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This is in response to it Boerenbusiness article:
[url = https: // www.boerenbusiness.nl/agribusiness/artikel/10893243/schouten-trek-knip-voor-boer-die-wil-switching]Schouten makes a cut for farmer who wants to switch[/url]
Nice to have the farmers switch over here and let the rest of the world starve to grow cheap organic food for the elite of the Netherlands
In the Netherlands, the organic yield is 80% of conventional. However, the usual yield is under pressure due to restrictions in the field of chemistry and manure and problems with declining soil quality. In the tropics, organic already yields more than usual in many places because those processes go faster there. 30% of the world's food is lost, obesity is a bigger problem in numbers of people than hunger. That "bio causes hunger" story sounds nice for those who don't like organic, is often repeated, but it is not true at all.
In the Netherlands, the organic yield is 80% of conventional. However, the usual yield is under pressure due to restrictions in the field of chemistry and manure and problems with declining soil quality. In the tropics, organic already yields more than usual in many places because those processes go faster there. 30% of the world's food is lost, obesity is a bigger problem in numbers of people than hunger. That "bio causes hunger" story sounds nice for those who don't like organic, is often repeated, but it is not true at all.
In the Netherlands, the organic yield is 80% of conventional. However, the usual yield is under pressure due to restrictions in the field of chemistry and manure and problems with declining soil quality. In the tropics, organic already yields more than usual in many places because those processes go faster there. 30% of the world's food is lost, obesity is a bigger problem in numbers of people than hunger. That "bio causes hunger" story sounds nice for those who don't like organic, is often repeated, but it is not true at all.
