Less room for nitrogen
Dairy farming sees manure surplus fall
In 2017, dairy farming succeeded in reducing phosphate production through the phosphate reduction plan. However, it says nothing about the placement space of manure on the ground. CBS also reports good news there.
The percentage of dairy farms with a manure surplus shows a decrease. Between 2000 and 2015, the percentage of overproduction increased from 26% to 79%. After a small step sideways in 2016, the percentage for 2017 is 76%. This means that almost a quarter of the companies no longer have overproduction. Dairy farming was the only sector in livestock farming where the percentage without surplus increased.
Less room for nitrogen
The fact that the percentage without overproduction did not increase more strongly is probably because the room for nitrogen is declining. For example, the placement capacity fell from 208,1 million kilos to 207,4 million kilos, a decrease of 0,3%. In contrast, the room for phosphate remained stable at 73 million kilos.
In total, the dairy farming sector produced approximately 2017 million kilos of nitrogen in 274,8, approximately 1,3% less than 1 year earlier. Phosphate production amounts to 80,3 million kilos, according to figures from Statistics Netherlands. The fall in nitrogen production is somewhat mitigated by a fall in the installation space, which technically increases the surplus.
In the short term, Statistics Netherlands will publish the first figures for the first quarter of 2018. It will then become clear how phosphate production in dairy farming has developed under the system of phosphate rights.
Herman van den Pol
© DCA Market Intelligence. This market information is subject to copyright. It is not permitted to reproduce, distribute, disseminate or make the content available to third parties for compensation, in any form, without the express written permission of DCA Market Intelligence.