More than half a billion for farmers against nitrogen

The cabinet is making another €350 million available to buy up livestock farms in the vicinity of Natura2000 areas. A sloppy €200 million will also be made available for those who want to become more sustainable.

Various media report this on the basis of conversations with insiders. The government wants to use the money for 'warm remediation', as is also the case in pig farming. The stopping livestock farmers, in turn, are giving up ammonia space that the cabinet can use to curb the nitrogen crisis.

Maintenance Agriculture Collective with cabinet
The plans will probably be officially announced on Friday after the Council of Ministers. That these have already been leaked is remarkable and not coincidental. Tomorrow (Wednesday 5 February) Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Agriculture Minister Carola Schouten will once again discuss the already much-discussed discussion with the Agricultural Collective. In the run-up to this conversation, the Agricultural Collective already announced that there are still 'bumps have to be taken', before a deal can be closed.

Whether the Agricultural Collective is enthusiastic about the leaked plans probably depends strongly on the rules of the game that the cabinet has in mind. For example, to what extent is there room for development for those who stay, is possibly one of the points for discussion. In addition, the collective is also waiting for the results of the calculations that the Mesdag Dairy Fund has carried out on the nitrogen data of the RIVM. These will be presented on 20 February and may shed a completely different light on nitrogen emissions from Dutch agriculture.

Wouter Job

Wouter Baan is editor-in-chief of Boerenbusiness. He also focuses on dairy, pig and meat markets. He also follows (business) developments within agribusiness and interviews CEOs and policymakers.

w.baan@boerenbusiness. Nl

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