POV argues for a new way of manure removal

Manure legislation is too complicated and too complex. In addition, this manure fraud promotes. That is what Paul Wouters, board member of the POV, stated during the round table discussion of the House of Representatives on manure fraud on Thursday 22 June.

According to Wouters, most mistakes are made with manure when sampling. In addition, the system is too complicated and does not function properly. "One tick wrong on the form and it is immediately labeled as fraud." Wouters wants to tackle the core of the problem by simplifying the system with less administration, fewer paper flows and reliable methods for determining levels. 

Not complicated
Pig farmer and manure processor John van Paassen, however, contradicted this. "I don't find the fertilizer administration complicated at all. I have my fertilizer receipts and my fertilizer accountants do the rest. A lot of data is automated and that works easily."

Stacked Regulations
Frits van der Schans of the CLM confirmed that the complexity of the rules makes it too complicated for livestock farmers and intermediaries. "The stacked regulations mean that farmers can no longer see the forest for the trees. It is better to hide in a dense forest than in an open forest."

The round table discussion also resulted in the Wageningen UR researchers underlining that it is unclear and to what extent fraud is being committed. Harry Luesink calculated for the members of the House of Representatives that an average pig farm spends €40.000 a year on manure disposal.

Shrinking livestock
The nature and environmental organizations seized the opportunity to draw attention to the size of the livestock. According to them, the core of the problem is that there are too many animals and too little land.

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