News Legislation
German nitrate legislation cuts sharply in fertilizer use
Germany has averted a fine of millions from Brussels by coming up with a new nitrate policy in time. This does mean that the size of the nitrate-sensitive area will be expanded considerably and farmers in that area will have to reduce the use of (artificial) fertilizer considerably.
At the beginning of July, the German parliament approved new fertilizer legislation from Agriculture Minister Özdemir. It took ten years to get the sixteen federal countries on the same page, much to the dismay of the European Commission. They threatened a fine of € 11 million - plus a penalty of € 800.000 per day - if the country does not quickly reduce the nitrate level in groundwater. That fine, which was announced at the beginning of June, has now been averted.
One third less manure
Bottlenecks are the so-called 'red areas' where the EU limit of 50 milligrams of nitrate per liter of water is consistently exceeded, or a limit of 37,5 milligrams with a strongly rising trend. Özdemir has significantly increased the size of these critical areas from 2 to 2,9 million hectares. Farmers who fall into such an area previously had to cut their fertilizer use by 20%. That has now been increased to a third.
The measure met with considerable resistance, especially in Saxony-Anhalt and North Rhine-Westphalia, so that since the beginning of June the legislation has been revised and technical points have been adjusted. The most important change is that there will be considerably more measuring points to better define the red areas. Something that the EU is also pushing for. The federal states are afraid that they will be burdened with significantly higher costs as a result.
DBV is satisfied
DBV Secretary General Bernhard Krüsken is satisfied with this solution. "By measuring exactly where too much water pollution occurs, farmers who do comply with the rules are not adversely affected. The principle of 'the polluter pays' is put into practice."
Niels van der Boom
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