Schouten does not meet affected livestock farmers

Dutch livestock farmers who have run into financial problems as a result of phosphate legislation do not have to count on government assistance. Minister Carola Schouten (Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality) reports this in a letter to Parliament.

The Minister of Agriculture sees no need to introduce an extra category in the shortage regulation in order to accommodate this group of farmers. 

No exception
This concerns livestock farmers who have expanded their barns, but had not filled them with dairy cattle in time (according to the new regulations). No exception is made for organic dairy farming either. They are not covered by the shortage regulation, and according to the minister there is no scope for exemptions or exemptions there.

Schouten emphasizes that he sympathizes and acknowledges the major consequences for livestock farmers and their families, but at the same time the minister says that exceeding the phosphate ceiling must be prevented. "An extra category of bottlenecks cannot be sufficiently defined and is potentially extensive. This would lead to uncertainty in the sector as a whole, and thus seriously undermine support for the system," Schouten wrote to the House. 

View Schouten's letter to parliament here.

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