Nitrogen plan means 30 percent smaller livestock

The government's approach to ammonia emissions will ensure that the livestock population has shrunk by around 2030% by 30, Minister for Nature and Nitrogen Christianne van der Wal (VVD) said this afternoon. She did so in a press conference about her plan to cut nitrogen emissions by half. "Whether that's 26% or 32%, don't ask me, but it will fluctuate around that percentage."

The minister bases this on a calculation by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL). "Ultimately, more agricultural entrepreneurs will stay than stop," said LNV minister Henk Staghouwer, who gave the press conference together with the nitrogen minister. In the letter to Parliament with which Van der Wal National Program Rural Area offers, she writes: "The painful observation is that not all farmers can continue with their agricultural business. Certainly not in all areas. And not every farmer can continue in the way he or she has been used to working for years. Not everything can be done anywhere and it can no longer be the way it used to be." 

'Business termination also realistic in vegetable sector'
Until now it was only about livestock farmers who had to stop, the letter to Parliament also states: "The production capacity will have to decrease, especially in areas where the pressure on the environment and nature is great. , although business termination can also be a realistic scenario within the plant-based sectors, especially for achieving water quality goals."

The plan aims to reduce a total of 39.023 tons of ammonia (NH3) from livestock farming. The province where ammonia emissions should decrease the most is Limburg (-52%). In absolute numbers, most ammonia emissions must be reduced in: Gelderland (7.511 tons, 42%), Noord-Brabant (6.957 tons, 46%), Overijssel (5.739 tons, 41%) and Friesland (4.701 tons, 34%). In Flevoland, both in absolute terms and in percentage, the statement is the smallest: 442 tons of NH3 (24%). Specific reduction targets for Natura 2000 areas are also given per province. 

Van der Wal cannot answer what that means for farmers in the Peel, the Veluwe and Gelderse valleys, for example. That depends on whether 'exactly in such an area a number of farmers want to stop voluntarily because they have no successor'. "The degree of intensive livestock farming really needs to be drastically reduced in such areas."

Talking to protesters
About farmers' organizations that find the plans unrealistic, Van der Wal said: "I am going to invite all organizations and farmers to the area processes myself, because these goals must be feasible. Natura 2000 areas cannot be changed. We have put our own signature late 80s, early 90s under the Birds and Habitats Directive." Staghouwer said it is 'their right' if farmers want to demonstrate. "What is important is that we continue to talk to each other: what is possible and what are the problems and how can you offer solutions. I will also discuss this on 22 June when they come to demonstrate."

Linda van Eekeres

Linda van Eekeres is co-writing editor-in-chief. She mainly focuses on macro-economic developments and the influence of politics on the agricultural sector.

l.vaneekeres@boerenbusiness. Nl

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