PAS detectors can fly up from Rutte 3 and 4

For those who don't remember: the PAS reporters are the group of livestock farmers who, through no fault of their own, found themselves without a permit when the Council of States suspended the Programmatic Approach to Nitrogen (PAS).

Grammar work
Failure to obtain the permit depended and often still depends on a few grams of extra emission space per company. The then cabinet solemnly promised to help out this category of problems, which were also suddenly viewed as extra risky by the banks. This solemn promise is still faithfully repeated by the ministers of the remainder of Rutte-4, because of urgency and the like, but the fulfillment of it does not get off the ground.

Priority for PAS detectors, but Schiphol first
Out of the now published documents it turns out that there is no question of helping with priority and urgency at all. Schiphol is allowed first, and more than that. Where PAS reporters are confronted with legal procedures, penalty payments and fertilization bans, the carpet is rolled out for Schiphol. Ministers Harbers (Infrastructure and Water Management) and Van der Wal (Nature and Nitrogen) call their civil servants together, see how they can help and open the RIVM files to Schiphol's helper Haskoning (RHDHV), so that he does not have to do too much. to look for when buying up farms - which is necessary to obtain nitrogen space in various places in the country.

The document collection contains a presentation that proves this, including a map that has been blacked out for the public, but not for Schiphol/Haskoning.

Egard versus promises
If the PAS reporters had been treated with the same respect, they would have been helped out a long time ago and the government could have saved itself a lot of empty promises, but for agriculture, different considerations are made in the political-administrative circuit and different priorities apply.

Nitrogen hole
A number of problems that agriculture faces are linked to other sectors. In other cases, the agricultural chain can also put its house in better order. One issue has come to the fore in recent weeks in connection with the package of measures that (outgoing) Agriculture Minister Adema wants to spread over livestock farming. The Stikstofclaim Foundation and subsequently others put their finger on the question of why a nitrogen gap is taken into account in stable animal farming (pigs, chickens) due to volatilization of N compounds (in science: gaseous losses), while in dairy farming it is not. that's how it goes.

Hit twice
Dairy farms are accounted for in the regulations in terms of emissions to the air, because they are considered major emitters of methane, ammonia and the like. But in the route of the manure - from under the cow's tail to the land - volatilization is not included (or better: not removed). According to the regulations, the full price is paid to the land, which means that dairy farming is actually assessed twice. This while the gaseous losses are approximately 18% according to scientific data. That volume should be deducted. If that were to happen, dairy farming would suddenly easily fall below the current nitrogen ceiling of 440 million kilos that is allowed on the land.

Farm nitrogen and sewage effluent
Remarkable detail: in addition to the 440 million kilos of agricultural nitrogen, approximately 125 million kilos of nitrogen leave the Dutch sewage treatment plants as effluent every year, according to data from Statistics Netherlands. Based on data from the treatment boards themselves, a higher figure is obtained. Perhaps, viewed in this way, it is not entirely unjustified that the western and Brabant water boards have been designated as nutrient-contaminated areas (and not the Frisian and Groningen water boards, which would be in the same boat). They are the most densely populated areas.

Data clarity
In recent years, new insights have continuously emerged regarding emissions from livestock farming, water pollution and the like. On closer inspection, a lot of data (b)seem to be different than initially stated. That is a major problem, but when it comes to solving urgent problems, the usual 'further research' is also a stumbling block. Researchers may be happy because there is more work, but further research also takes a lot of time.

Dates and interests
This does not have to be the case with a critical examination and calibration of all existing data, a kind of quick scan of essential and current data. That may not be an exercise that goes smoothly either, because data often equals interests. For example, the Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality consistently refuses to adjust the excretion standard for dairy cattle that is more than 10% too high. In every investigation, representatives of the interests mentioned are involved, or data is withheld. Still, something like this could probably help a lot.

Interest cake
Better knowledge of where you stand as an agricultural community and what you stand for can hopefully also help to better align interests. Dutch agriculture has traditionally been richly diversified when it comes to organizations, especially those based on pillarization. And there are several interest groups active in almost all sectors, but dairy farming has really taken the cake in recent years when it comes to fragmentation. That certainly does not help to be a clear discussion partner towards the government and to effectively convey one's own interests. In recent weeks it has also turned out to be about an alternative to Minister Adema's fertilizer plan. What started as a strong and widely supported initiative quickly fell apart like a shortbread that had become too dry.