News NZO
Guidance on the economic importance of dairy to politics
The Dutch Dairy Organization (NZO) will provide the House of Representatives with a guide on the importance of the dairy sector for the election year in 2021. In this contribution, NZO emphasizes the importance of dairy in the Dutch economy.
In its contribution, NZO emphasizes the fact that the Dutch dairy sector contributes 7% to the Dutch trade surplus. In addition, 49.000 full-time jobs are staffed in this sector. The dairy sector therefore not only contributes to (international) trade, but certainly also to the domestic economy. In addition, the advocate states that the FAO considers dairy an important part of the basic diet.
Infrastructure
The guideline is filled with 3 basic topics: necessary infrastructure, sustainable and healthy food and the dairy industry's climate tasking. Under necessary infrastructure, a paragraph is devoted to the importance of trade agreements for the Dutch dairy sector. It is emphasized that free trade is important and that trade agreements can then force companies and governments to engage in corporate social responsibility. In addition, NZO believes that the Dutch government should make a case for these agreements in the European Union and should better propagate their importance. The document also states that agriculture minister Carola Schouten must take charge of all this.
The international importance of the Dutch dairy sector is also further emphasized, the preservation of the basic infrastructure for food safety and an expansion of the General Binding Declarations (AVVs). With the latter, NZO indicates that the sector must be given more room to become more sustainable.
Dairy and climate
In addition to the interests of maintaining sustainable and healthy food produced in the Netherlands, which includes dairy, NZO also emphasizes the climate challenge in the dairy industry. For example, the advocate believes that the Dutch government should provide more customization in the industry's climate challenges. The government must prevent companies from becoming the victims of overlapping climate targets, because this entails a huge cost item that generally cannot be absorbed with the revenues.
NZO also stands up for the dairy industry under the vision 'less animal, more vegetable'. The advocate asks for more nuance in this and to take a good look at the missed animal nutrients that, in this view, must be compensated with vegetable nutrients. In general, this requires many more products to achieve the same amount of animal nutrients with vegetable substitutes. According to NZO, the government must base its policy on the sustainability plan on food on nutritional value per kilogram of product and not just on the number of CO2 equivalents.
Jorine Cosse
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