News Phosphate rights
Judge rejects 3 out of 4 phosphate requests
On 3 September, the Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal (CBb) rejected 3 of the 4 objections related to the granting of phosphate rights. The dairy farmer who was in the right had rented out agricultural land and was therefore no longer land-bound.
The dairy farmer who received the green light had rented out land during the reference date (2 July 2015). When the phosphate rights were awarded, this resulted in a discount of 263,25 kilos. In other words, a cost of almost €40.000 to close this 'phosphate gap' out of pocket.
However, the rental was temporary and one-off. Although the dairy farmer in question could expect that the government would take measures after the European milk quota has been abolished, it could not be expected that the lease would result in a major loss. In addition, the manure was deposited on the leased land, as a result of which the company traded land-related. As a result, the court concluded that the burden was excessive. It is now up to the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) to determine the level of compensation.
Three rejections
The 3 objections that were rejected are of different nature. A dairy farmer from Overijssel who moved his company in 2012 and scaled it up from (70 to 175 cows) the barn was far from full on the reference date, due to start-up problems. That is why this livestock farmer was allocated less phosphate space than his permit allows. However, the judge rejected the request and attributes this situation to the group of 'large expanders'. All 4 dairy farmers did see their legal costs reimbursed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality.
In January, the CBb started processing the objections. At the time, they indicated that they had been working on this monster job for about 9 months. This endeavor will no longer be successful. Of the 750 cases, 261 have been settled so far. A spokesman for the CBb says that the intention is to have everything settled before the turn of the year.
Wouter Job
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