'Kringloopwijzer pilot is a necessity'

LTO Nederland and the Dutch Dairy Organization (NZO) want the Kringloopwijzer to be tested on a large scale in 2018 on various types of dairy farms.

The pilot should show whether the Kringloopwijzer can be used as an accounting system for the production of nitrogen and phosphate from 2019. The NVWA has doubts as to whether the Kringloopwijzer is sufficiently fraud-resistant. 

Replacement for the BEX
The Kringloopwijzer provides insight into all mineral flows that take place on the dairy farm. However, the current Farm Specific Excretion (BEX) system only looks at the nitrogen and phosphate production of the cow. Ultimately, the BEX must be replaced by the KringloopWijzer.

Not Compliant
Minister Kamp left on Thursday 7 September in a letter to the House of Representatives know that the Kringloopwijzer does not yet meet the requirements. As a result, the Kringloopwijzer is not yet approved for use as a valid system for accounting for production. He leaves the possibility for a large-scale pilot to a new cabinet.

Better than the standard standard
LTO and NZO are therefore now pressing for a pilot in 2018. It is precisely because of the arrival of phosphate rights in 2018 that it is important for dairy farmers to demonstrate that they are efficient with minerals and therefore produce less than the standard standard. This saves them in the need to buy additional phosphate rights.

Borging
LTO and NZO think it is right that the government sets more requirements for proper assurance of the figures. They state that in recent years we have worked hard to make the Recycling Guide work properly. The Kringloopwijzer uses data from the central ZuivelNL database. 

LTO and NZO expect that the Kringloopwijzer will become an important instrument that provides insight into the environmental performance of the dairy sector and, in particular, individual companies. 

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