The new Fertilizers Act provides the option of reducing animal or phosphate rights if phosphate or nitrogen production is too high. The phosphate production ceiling is also laid down in the law for each sector. It means that the impact of producing too much manure is greater.
In new Fertilizers Act it is stated that the total volume of animal production per calendar year amounts to 172,9 million kilos and 504,4 million kilos for nitrogen. A ceiling of 84,9 million kilos of phosphate and 281,8 million kilos of nitrogen applies to the dairy sector.
The pig farming sector will receive a volume of 39,7 million kilos of phosphate and 99,1 million kilos of nitrogen and the poultry farming sector will close with 27,4 million kilos of phosphate and 60,3 million kilos of nitrogen.
Changes
The sector ceilings are not new, but were not previously in the law. After each calendar year, the manure production calculated by Statistics Netherlands is published in the Government Gazette. Production is only corrected for roughage for dairy farming.
A major change is that Minister Carola Schouten (Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality) will be given the opportunity (by order in council) to reduce the rights by a percentage. This applies to phosphate rights as well as to pig and poultry rights.
big downer
The changes are part of the sixth Nitrates Directive action program (2018-2021). It is expected to come into effect on January 1, 2020. This is especially a downer for pig farmers. Where there was first a prospect of abolishing pig rights, there is now even a possibility to remove rights from the market. This means that producing too much manure is punished more severely than in the past.
Until October 26, there is still an internet consultation Place. This gives the parties involved the opportunity to express their views on the proposed changes.