The details will follow, because it is hot off the press, but outgoing Agriculture Minister Piet Adema no longer has to wave goodbye as the minister who keeps standing with his hands in the air. He has delivered and finally given permission from the European Commission for possibly large-scale manure processing. The agreement in principle has been reached, but how practical it will be remains to be seen.
There was also a Brussels success for fellow minister Christianne van der Wal, albeit against her initial wishes.
Unintentional success of Van der Wal nature restoration
Van der Wal initially wanted to vote in favor of the European Nature Restoration Regulation. That was simply the way it was agreed in the outgoing cabinet. Moreover, according to her, a Dutch vote against would do little. However, the House of Representatives convinced her to vote against. And it did make some difference, because Van der Wal had not counted on 'supporters' such as Hungary. The latest state of affairs is that the European Commission is taking away another crown jewel from Frans Timmermans. The regulation will temporarily move to a Brussels drawer.
Sinkevicius hands out
Back to the Renure agreement. Adema did not complete this job all alone. Mark Rutte pushed along. Moreover, Environment Commissioner Virginius Sinkevicius was already handing out a bit in consultation with his colleagues. Ireland was also in danger of losing the grassland derogation. Sinkevicius first demanded that it should go from 250 kilos of nitrogen from animal manure to 220 kilos per hectare, provided it met four additional conditions. Ireland managed to reduce this to two additional conditions, which can also be met more easily.
Election encores
The EU member states all seem to be getting a small bonus in the run-up to the European Parliament elections. Nevertheless, Brussels cannot do it completely well. The European Commission has promised EU member states along the border with Ukraine to better protect them against the influx of cheap Ukrainian grain, but the proposed compensation for Ukrainian farmers is again not going down well in Poland. Farmers continue to block roads there.
No Ukrainian, but Russian grain
Strangely enough, not against the import of other and perhaps even less desirable grain: from Russia and Belarus. It seems as if people in Brussels are only now realizing that a barrier can also be erected against this - which is of course not the case. It served another purpose, just like the gray import of Russian fuel. However, the EU does not have to finance Russian warfare.
G6 happy, Agractie not yet
The Dutch agricultural organizations united in the G6 (Dutch Dairymen Board, LTO Dairy Farming department, Dutch Agricultural Youth Contact, Dutch Dairy Farmers' Union, De Natuurweide and Netwerk GRONDig, assisted by the Dutch Dairy Organization and ZuivelNL) are cautiously pleased with the Renure success of Breathe. However, they do note that the period until the start of Renure still has to be completed - and many livestock farmers are at a loss - and that the preconditions for its application are essential.
Renure is not a 'quick fix'. At least not if large-scale nitrogen strippers are used. These have to be built, require SDE subsidies and are not just clean, because sulfuric acid is used for them. It is also mainly a solution for more intensive companies.
Vulnerability
Bridging could be done with, for example, a different classification of the Netherlands according to 'vulnerability', with associated standards. The entire country is now considered vulnerable, while it has been established that there is actually no reason for this in terms of protecting groundwater quality.
Agractie, who is not part of the G6, seems to have run out of patience. On Friday, the organization called on farmers to find their own way out in Brussels. According to the organization, farmers are being forced to take matters into their own hands.
Koopmans must give LTO some pepper
There is a good chance that LTO Nederland, with Ger Koopmans as its new chairman, will also work a little harder to find a solution to manure and other agricultural problems. According to various media, Koopmans may have suffered 'a blemish' as a director in Limburg, but he is a combative person who also has enough file knowledge and political experience to effectively tackle files. He was also never the person to be taken by the hand by officials.
Pre-BBB
This is sometimes different at the provincial level, especially in the machinery of the IPO and BIJ12. Anyone who reads the management documents that these clubs present to their political leaders still imagines themselves in the pre-BBB era. For example, instead of offering practical solutions for agricultural companies that are in need of nitrogen through no fault of their own, the bureaucracy proposes even stricter enforcement.