t Things got heated in the debate in the House of Representatives about the content of the draft Agricultural Agreement, which did not materialize. That essentially concerns our food production. Protein especially. We have to be careful with that.
The negotiations regarding the agricultural agreement were mainly about the number of cows that we can keep in our country. But in order to limit nitrogen emissions in order to spare nature, it is important to consider the source of the nitrogen problem. We have a million hectares of grassland here in our low country by the sea. This is largely due to soil conditions where few other foods can grow. With so much grassland at hand, you logically also get a lot of cows. It is no surprise that we are the world leader in the production of milk and meat. With the advent of the European Economic Community, borders disappeared so that production would take place where it could best. For us, that was the icing on the cake. Our dairy and meat industry multiplied its production.
Some progress in land use efficiency
Because of our entrepreneurial spirit, we may have gone a bit too far in terms of land use efficiency... With the import of cheap soy protein we could feed the cattle cheaply That with all that soy protein we also import a lot of nitrogen, we let that go too long to happen. In addition, the grassland is fertilized with artificial fertilizer to get more protein in the grass. This makes our grass particularly rich in protein and cows deal with it very 'messy'. A cow uses only thirty percent of the available protein in her digestive system for production and body maintenance. The rest of the protein ends up on the ground and in the air as ammonia and nitrate. The extensive import of nitrogen in the form of soy and fertilizer are the cause of the current problems in our country. The nitrogen crisis. With the export of meat and dairy, not half as much nitrogen goes out of the country as what we take in.
That is why guidelines from Brussels aim at impoverishment of the pasture through less nitrogen fertilization. This way you get less protein in the grass. First of all, they focus on animal fertilizers, because that is where the evil lies. But, now we have to be careful. Worldwide, the demand for animal protein is increasing significantly. That won't change if we close the door here. Then that protein will be produced elsewhere. The waterbed effect.
Alternative schools of thought
There is also another mindset. You may wonder if you can't get all that protein that the cow doesn't use from the grass in advance, before the cow eats it? Yes, you can! When we squeeze the juice out of the grass before the cow gets to eat it, a large part of the proteins that the cow is not using now, no longer enter the digestive organ and therefore no longer appear as ammonia during excretion. And the proteins we extract turn out to be excellent raw materials for pig feed, chicken feed and human foodstuffs. Raw materials that we now import by ship from distant continents. We simply import proteins that are simply available in our grassland in multiples, but which are now lost as environmental pollutants that threaten our nature.
What prevents us from leaving behind the squabbles from political The Hague and simply taking the bull by the horns. It is therefore time that we 'come to ourselves' and stop getting 'from afar' what we have here in abundance and have neglected until now.
Our perspective
It's simple. We have to think about it and make better use of all that grass protein that our cows now spill, which pollutes the soil. That's possible. With grass refining - extracting protein from grass - and feeding our cows with protein-reduced 'dissolved' grass. Give the dairy farmer an additional revenue model with the production of vegetable protein for human consumption and the chance to arrive at a 'accountable balance of substances'. Here in our country, even better at European level.
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This is in response to it Boerenbusiness article:
[url = https: // www.boerenbusiness.nl/melk/artikel/10904906/stikstofperspectief-beckoning-gras-protein-beter-utilizing]Nitrogen perspective beckons: making better use of grass-protein[/url]
Nice response with the key question:
"Do we still know what being healthy is"?
From the cattle, from the soil, from the food and so on!
Nature has all the answers to these questions, the trick is to find and apply them.
