'Crushes must be accommodated'

Dairy farmers of the 'Innovative out of the squeeze' group have drawn up a petition because they are getting into trouble due to the introduction of the phosphate rights system. They presented the petition to the House of Representatives Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV) on Tuesday 5 December.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality writes on its website that they want to offer farmers and horticulturists prospects to strengthen their international leading position and to improve their economic position at the same time. The dairy farmers of the group have drawn up 7 recommendations to realize this vision.

For example, they argue for a correction to the phosphate ceiling of exported phosphate to phosphate-poor areas. "This space can be used to accommodate the bottlenecks without further cutting the sector," the group said.

The group also wants a one-off exchange from pig to dairy cattle phosphate. This should be a temporary facility. In addition, remediation of phosphate at company level would also be an option. Both options ensure a warm remediation of the pig farming sector and provide opportunities for dealing with bottlenecks in dairy farming.

New construction extra bottleneck
Dairy farmers of 'Innovatief uit de knel' are calling for a scheme in which companies with a new barn under construction on 2 July 2015 will also receive rights for the number of barns under construction. This should also apply to the farms that were not supplying milk at that time.

When transferring phosphate rights, a creaming-off of 10% takes place. The group argues in favor of using this discount for the tight quarters, because they have already fallen below the ceiling as a result of the scheme. They also want customization in the collection of monies owed from the phosphate production plan, now that these dairy farmers are no longer exempt.

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