337 dairy farms wrongly blocked

Further investigation shows that 337 of the 2.200 blocked dairy farms have been unjustly blocked. This is due to errors in the Identification and Registration System (I&R). Minister Carola Schouten (Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality) reports this in a letter to the House of Representatives.

At the beginning of this year, Minister Schouten blocked more than 2.200 dairy farms as a result of irregularities in the administration. It now appears that this was not the case at 337 companies. They can submit a claim for damages to the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA), Schouten writes. "If there has indeed been demonstrable damage from the blockade, the farmers will be compensated for the damage."

There remains a group of 75 dairy farms that are suspected of calf fraud. The Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality has transferred the file of this group to the Public Prosecution Service (OM). The Public Prosecution Service must assess whether it will proceed with a criminal prosecution.

I'm sorry
In February, the minister took tough measures by immediately blocking companies with some irregularities in the administration. This led to a lot anger and frustration among dairy farmers. Afterwards, Schouten went back on her words and expressed regret that the word 'fraud' had been mentioned, especially because this had not yet been proven.

There was not even an irregularity at the 337 companies, says Schouten in the letter. "The actual situation turned out to be slightly different from what the NVWA concluded from the initially available data."

Firm intervention
In the letter to Parliament, Schouten mentions as an example a cattle farmer who let a pregnant heifer walk along in the milking process (to get used to it). The heifer was not milked, but was included on the milking list. The farmer in question was able to demonstrate that the animal had not yet been milked at all. So his registration was just fine.

Schouten acknowledges that the interventions have been substantial in the past year. "I note that the abnormalities that were visible did not repeat themselves in 2018. That means that we are now completing the investigation and can close this period." Together with the dairy farming sector, the minister wants to look at how the reliability of the Identification and Registration System can be improved.

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