News Nitrogen
Cabinet 'embraces' nitrogen recommendations Remkes
The government embraces the lines of thought and recommendations from the Remkes II report. This means that work is being done on a short-term approach to permit granting and an agricultural agreement with directional agreements about the future of agriculture. For the coming period, legalizing the PAS reports has priority.
The cabinet announced this on Friday 14 October. An initial response from the government to the report has been sent to the House of Representatives.
In the area processes, the cabinet then 'solves the puzzles' to achieve the nature objectives, among other things, it reports. At the request of the House of Representatives, Johan Remkes has been asked to lead the discussions, following unrest in society.
Minister Piet Adema of LNV wants farmers to feel valued again. “As a government, we have a lot of work to do to restore trust. Farmers ensure a vital countryside and, in addition to the food supply, also take care of nature. I want to work with them for a sustainable future for agriculture."
The cabinet wants to improve the quality of nature, water, the environment and climate, but also wants a good future for the agricultural sector. Nature must demonstrably improve and at the same time permits must be issued, for example for housing and infrastructure. The Netherlands has to get rid of the lock. In accordance with Remkes' advice, the government will continue to focus on achieving the nitrogen targets by 2030, with benchmarks in 2025 and 2028, or so the government wants.
Minister Van der Wal of Nature and Nitrogen: "We want to use and continue the constructive talks that were held last summer. We are looking more than before for cooperation to bridge contradictions. Restoring trust takes time, we realize that. the opportunity to make a new start on the way to a good balance between the economy and nature, because farmers, and certainly young farmers too, have a future in the Netherlands'', says Van der Wal.
Voluntary work for peak loaders
One of Remkes' recommendations is the targeted and accelerated removal of emissions from 500 to 600 so-called peak loaders. In this way as few companies as possible are affected and space can be created for, among other things, PAS detectors. Remkes advises to give them priority when it comes to the usable nitrogen space that comes from the peak loaders. After all, in this way justice is done to the position of PAS detectors. When it comes to peak tax burdens, the cabinet wants to discuss a phased approach with entrepreneurs from various sectors. These conversations – on a voluntary basis – are initially about adapting or relocating and only then about voluntarily buying or buying out a company.
The government is aware that this process has a major impact and considers the 1-year time frame mentioned by Remkes to be ambitious. Partly for this reason, the government wants to create a scheme as soon as possible. The Ministry of LNV wants to tackle this together with the sector and the provinces.
Discussions on the Agricultural Agreement continue
The cabinet wants – as Remkes also recommends – to develop the lines of thought of the report together with the sector into a clear and stable course. The aim is a multi-year approach for agriculture and to offer support in this way towards circular agriculture. This should give direction to the future of the agricultural sectors, including the contribution made by the chain parties. The agreement therefore forms an important basis for future agricultural policy. The starting point for this is the report by Mr Remkes and the coalition agreement. The cabinet wants to continue the talks that were made under the leadership of Mr Remkes. This requires a responsibility from everyone to actively participate and to listen to each other, discuss conflicting interests and work on joint solutions. Other interested parties, such as nature conservation organisations, are also part of this.
The government wants to get started as soon as possible. The government is assuming its role and responsibility. In November there will be a letter to parliament with the main points for the future of agriculture. This contains the basis for the agricultural agreement, which the aim is to conclude in the first quarter of 2023. The House of Representatives will also be informed in November about the way in which the approach to peak loads will be further fleshed out. A letter to Parliament will then be issued with the national objectives in the context of the National Program for Rural Areas (NPLG) in the field of climate, water and nature.
These directional provincial objectives and choices will be determined by January 2023 at the latest, and they will be finalized on July 1, 2023 after the area programs have been submitted.
FDF disappointed, Agration more positive
The first reactions from agriculture are different. FDF leader Mark van den Oever believes that 'nothing at all' has happened and that he drove to the Catshuis for nothing.
That is not the view of Agractie foreman Bart Kemp. It is true that he misses matters in the government's position, such as excluding forced buy-out, unambiguous priority for PAS reporters in solving bottlenecks and granting permits and excluding the exchange between ammonia (NH3) and nitrogen oxide (NOx). Yet the overall tone of the position is more positive and words like 'inevitable' are now missing when it comes to agricultural targets.
Previously, MOB captain Johan Vollenbroek was extremely critical of the Remkes II report for other reasons. He called it messy work.
Klaas van der Horst
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