The new Fertilizers Act (or the sixth Nitrates Directive action program) contains a small plus for arable farmers. From 2020, certain soils will receive an additional 5 kilos of phosphate per hectare in the new class classification. This does not stop the mining of the soil.
Minister Carola Schouten (Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality) writes in an Letter to Parliament about the details of the Nitrate Directive. This affects the situation at livestock farms, but some things are also changing for arable farmers. From 2020 they can count on a small plus.
New class
The class division will be refined in the law from 1 January 2020. The law now has 3 classes: high, neutral and low. The poor class is included as a subclass. From 2020 this will become a separate class. The neutral class is divided into neutral and more than sufficient. According to the minister, the increase in crop yields will then be met, which will increase extraction.
On arable land (a Pw number of 50 or more), the phosphate use standard will be reduced by 2020 kilos of phosphate per hectare from 10, to 40 kilos. This is also the case on grassland class high (P-AL 50 or more). The new usage standard here is 70 kilos. Arable land in the low class will receive an additional 5 kilos per hectare and the neutral class will receive 10 kilos.
The neutral and low classes also receive an extra 5 kilos on grassland. The more than sufficient class has an allocation of 90 kilos on grassland and 60 kilos on arable land. It thus takes over the status of the current neutral category.
| Phosphate class | Grassland | arable land | ||
| Current | P-AL number | Usage standard | Pw number | Usage standard |
| Low in phosphate | <16 | 120 | <25 | 120 |
| Low | 16-27 | 100 | 25-36 | 75 |
| Neutral | 27-50 | 90 | 36-55 | 60 |
| High | > 50 | 80 | > 55 | 50 |
| Phosphate class | Grassland | arable land | ||
| Future | P-AL numberedl | Usage standard | Pw number | Usage standard |
| Low in phosphate | <16 | 120 | <25 | 120 |
| Low | 16-27 | 105 | 25-35 | 80 |
| Neutral | 27-50 | 95 | 36-45 | 70 |
| Ample | 41-50 | 90 | 46-55 | 60 |
| High | > 50 | 70 | > 55 | 40 |
Encourage sampling
Anyone who does not have their soil sampled for phosphate status will end up in the high class. This is roughly the case for 33% of all Dutch agricultural and horticultural land. There is potentially a lot of space available for placing phosphate here and this space is desperately needed. CBS calculated that 7.500 hectares are withdrawn from agriculture every year, good for 375.000 kilos of installation space.
The new Nitrate Directive tries to persuade arable farmers and livestock farmers to have their soil sampled more often and thus benefit from 5 kilos of extra space for use.
From Pw to P-AL
On arable land, the Pw number is used as a guideline. On grassland this is the capacity indicator P-AL. Within the new Nitrate Directive, the phosphate status for arable land and grassland is calculated using the intensity indicator P-CaCl2, in combination with P-AL. This theoretical measuring method should calculate the available phosphate in the soil relatively quickly. This indicator can be converted into the Pw number via a conversion.
However, this indicator is not flawless and is not yet ready for practice. The ministry has yet to determine the exact values associated with the class classification. These are not yet included in the bill. Within the sixth Nitrate Directive action program, the indicator Pw number for arable land is still permitted.
Yoyo effect
The application standards that are too low are a thorn in the side for arable farmers. In that respect, a plus of 5 kilos of phosphate is positive. Unlike the equivalent measures, you do not have to meet a set of additional requirements. These measures will be canceled in the sixth action programme.
However, it concerns a cloth for the bleeding. According to many farmers and insiders, the extraction is greater than the supply allows. In addition, with the new class division, there are fears of a yo-yo effect. Plots keep changing classes after a few years.
Not unimportant is the theory of calculating the combined P-CaCl2 and P-AL. Practical tests show that in many cases arable land is actually deteriorating, meaning that less phosphate can be supplied. Currently, only BLGG is accredited to calculate the P-AL and pW number. This gives it a monopoly position. The arable farming sector would like to see several research agencies receive accreditation. However, this is a costly process.
Visualizing withdrawal
The Dutch Arable Farming Union (NAV) has the Fertilizers Act as its spearhead. It is involved in the development of the entire manure policy. The advocate would like to see more clearly how many nutrients are removed. One idea is to use data that Suiker Unie collects. For example, the phosphate content is measured during the beet harvest. This provides insight into how much phosphate is removed.
Arable farmers are obliged to purchase Betacal from Suiker Unie or to buy it out. However, installation is difficult due to the strict phosphate standards. The NAV advocates exempting this natural fertilizer. The use of residual flows fits within Minister Schouten's vision. However, strict legislation now makes it impossible to implement this in concrete terms.
Short-term legislation
The sixth Nitrate Directive action program will come into effect on January 1, 2020. The arable farming sector would prefer to see the amended standards come into effect from 2019. The program lasts until December 31, 2021. The seventh action program will then follow.