News Nitrogen
Nitrogen plan for formation: barn adaptation also an option
The parties that form a new cabinet are close to an agreement on how to tackle the nitrogen crisis, the AD reports. According to the newspaper, the parties do not lay down how much the livestock should shrink. Less nitrogen emissions can also be achieved by adapting stables or relocating dairy farms. The parties want to focus on dairy farms around nature reserves. Both LTO Nederland and Farmers Defense Force insist in their responses that support for a nitrogen plan is crucial.
According to the AD Until 2030, about €20 to €30 billion must be made available for the 'transition plan' for agriculture. In addition to nitrogen, this should also reduce CO2 emissions and achieve better water quality. One of the two plans that the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) calculated over the summer also includes room for nitrogen reduction through technical solutions. This plan (variant A) is based on a reduction of ammonia emissions through a combination of technology and a 30% reduction in the dairy herd.
Last Tuesday (9 November), Aaldrik Tiktak, scientific researcher soil and water at PBL, gave a presentation to the House Committee for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV) about the quick scan of both policy packages. In this he commented that technical solutions to reduce nitrogen emissions are often less effective in practice than in test setups.
In both variants there is expropriation. It is not clear whether this will also become part of the government's nitrogen agreement. According to the AD, there is also talk of dividing the Netherlands into four zones, whereby farmers in large parts of the Northern Netherlands and Zeeland are allowed to do their own thing and it must become farmer-free in the vicinity of nature reserves. It is not clear what the status of this option is.
Support base
Support is crucial for LTO Nederland. "The agricultural sector is on the eve of a major transition. Substantial government investments are indispensable. Support for plans is at least as crucial. Especially now that farmers' confidence in the government is minimal. Expropriation, zoning and other ideas devised behind a desk coercive measures therefore do not belong on the formation table in any case," LTO chairman Sjaak van der Tak responds on Twitter to the leaked cabinet plans. "If the money is used for innovation, agrarian nature management, voluntary relocation or voluntary stopping, then the forming parties are on the right track. Animal numbers are rightly not controlled!"
Higher regional reduction percentages are counterproductive, says Van der Tak. According to him, the report mush, which is also on the formation table, causes unrest. He calls on the cabinet to get started with the 'plans presented by the sector, chain, entrepreneurs and nature organizations, such as Sustainable Balance and the Coalition for the Future-Oriented Dairy Farming'.
Voluntary quit
Farmers Defense Force, like LTO, believes that available money should be used for innovation and the possible voluntary relocation or voluntary shutdown of companies, 'if this is actually voluntary'. "When the forming parties want to go that way, they are on the right track," FDF said on its website. In addition, FDF sets the condition that the agricultural area remains strong. "The agricultural sector must continue to have room. We already made that offer in October 2019 within the Agricultural Collective! That is where the solution lies. That is where the support among farmers lies!" FDF calls on the forming parties: "Give meaning to your proposed 'new management culture'. Find support. Have a discussion with us. Then we will solve it. Have respect for other people's property!"
Tiktak of the PBL also gave politicians the message on Tuesday that support is extremely important for whatever plan is chosen. "Make sure there is sufficient support in the form of, for example, an agricultural agreement or something of that magnitude and be clear about the goals for permanent farmers. I think the latter is very important. Make long-term agreements about this and ensure that the policy is solid. ."
Linda van Eekeres
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