News Nitrogen
This is how the agricultural sector wants to reduce nitrogen
The Dutch agricultural sector wants to further reduce nitrogen emissions, but in such a way that there is future prospects for (young) farmers. The Agricultural Collective, a collaboration between interest representatives and farmer protest groups, unanimously presented a plan on Wednesday 20 November in The Hague to tackle the nitrogen crisis.
This plan was presented to Minister Carola Schouten (Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality) and shows the commitment of agriculture to contribute to nitrogen reduction in the Netherlands. Technical measures in particular are suggested as the solution for further reduction, such as using less protein-rich feed, applying manure scrapers, using broader grazing standards and installing air scrubbers.
There must also be a realistic threshold value (of 1 mol per hectare), so that Dutch policy is more in line with other countries within the European Union. "It is impossible to explain why the standards in the Netherlands are stricter than elsewhere", says Aalt Dijkhuizen, the chairman of the Agricultural Collective.
'Young farmers must be able to continue'
Minister Schouten received the report from Dijkhuizen at a press conference in The Hague. In an initial response, the minister claimed to share the Agricultural Collective's premise. "Getting out of the impasse and continuing to give perspective to the sector. Young farmers must be able to continue." The minister praised the formation of the collective and the speed with which all organizations have started working with the nitrogen plan. "That's great. I'm going to study the report carefully."
In the almost 25 pages The report also states that the Collective wants to lease reduced nitrogen space to other sectors, but does not want to give it up. "Free latent space may not be sold outside the agricultural sector, because this erodes the farmers' stock," says Dijkhuizen. He further emphasizes that the sector does not see itself as the cause of the nitrogen problem. This report therefore provides figures that show that a great deal of ammonia has already been reduced in recent decades: 65%.
Nearly €3 billion needed
With the measures envisaged by the Agricultural Collective, it is possible (in its own words) to reduce in the long term between 7 and 9 kton of ammonia. A reduction of 2020 to 3 kton is achievable by 5. Of course, the plans come with a price tag. The costs must be reimbursed by the government.
The Agricultural Collective estimates the costs for the next 5 years at €2,9 billion, of which €500 million must now be available to implement all plans. "This money must come from outside the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. Otherwise, it will be at the expense of other farmers' budgets," says Dijkhuizen.
10 preconditions
"Sufficient support is crucial to get the farmers' supporters moving," said the chairman. That is why the Agricultural Collective has set ten preconditions. The preconditions vary from no generic contraction to 1 central government policy. The policy must also be based on measurements instead of calculated assumptions made by RIVM. Furthermore, the number Natura2000 areas are under scrutiny.
The Agricultural Collective has previously indicated that it wishes the cabinet to adopt the plan 1-on-1. Farmers Defense Force, one of the initiators of the collective, previously indicated that they would not tolerate cherry-picking from Schouten (in other words: only measures that Schouten would like to take from the plan).
Wouter Job
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