News Planet proof
SMK wants more comfort and room to move for the cow
Dairy farmers who produce Planet Proof certified milk will have to focus more heavily on cow comfort from next year. This has been announced by the Stichting Milieukeur (SMK). Farmers must meet a series of additional criteria. Boxes need to be more spacious, cows need more freedom of movement.
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Most PlanetProof dairy farmers are with FrieslandCampina, a smaller group is with Farmel and Noorderlandmelk. More than eight hundred dairy farmers are currently certified for the scheme. At FrieslandCampina, PlanetProof farmers currently receive a surcharge of €2,50 per 100 kilos, while at Farmel a different surcharge applies. There are no rules from SMK for this. Companies can determine the amount of the surcharge themselves.
The additional conditions for improving cow comfort are divided into two series. There is a series for the next two years, while there is also a series of requirements for which there is up to fifteen years.
Basic comfort standards
The first set of requirements concerns basic standards that must be met. This concerns soft lying areas for dairy cattle, no more narrow cubicles and short bedding, a walking floor with a good profile, facilities to prevent heat stress, no more stables without daylight, only calves in single boxes under clear conditions, young cattle in straw cages also only under certain conditions. and no more calving stables with cubicles. The young cattle must also be grazed next year. These conditions must be met by January 1, 2025.
Up to 15 years
In addition, there are a series of conditions - applicable to new construction or extensions - that must be met by 2038 at the latest. This concerns wider and/or longer cubicles for dairy cows, walking space behind the feeding fence, walking space between the cubicles including escape options (no dead-end paths), at least 20% daylight in the stable, more stable volume, additional requirements for housing young cattle in cubicles and a minimum number of feeding areas plus minimum dimensions of the feeding fence.
More own protein
All these conditions were already announced last year. There were also changes then, but mainly with a focus on nature and landscape management and on animal health and welfare. Transitional periods also applied. From January 1, 2022, there will be three years to comply with the standards. The percentage of home-grown protein must be increased by 2024% by 5 at the latest. This amounts to 55% as a basic standard and 65% for the top level.
Extreme weather
This year, SMK has not made any 'extreme weather adjustments' based on the 2021 results. There is a good chance that adjustments will have to be made next year due to the dry summer of 2022 again.