News Manure
OM: 'Less livestock is a solution to manure fraud'
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) says that the manure problem can only be solved in one way: less livestock. This is what Rob de Rijck, coordinating officer for environmental affairs at the Public Prosecution Service, says in NRC Handelsblad. This is the first time that the agency takes a position publicly.
About 1 year after NRC revealed the large-scale fraud, the newspaper concludes that the problem has not yet been solved. The measures promised by Minister Carola Schouten (Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality) were not (or only partially) implemented.
The newspaper writes that the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) has hardly added any additional supervisors. The code of conduct was only signed by a few dozen companies. Fraudsters can also still apply for a subsidy, while there is almost no is maintained.
In short: the manure problem did not decrease, but increased. However, the NRC does add the nuance that it may be too early to draw up the balance 1 year later.
Financial incentive too great
The Public Prosecution Service endorses the findings of the NRC and says, through De Rijck, that hardly anything has changed in the area of enforcement in the past period. According to De Rijck, only a smaller livestock size can solve the manure fraud.
Only then will the oversupply on the fertilizer market diminish, which he believes is the cause of the problem. On BNR Nieuwsradio, De Rijck said that the financial incentive to circumvent the legislation is currently too great. With less manure, that financial incentive becomes smaller. The Public Prosecution Service has never expressed itself in such solutions before.
clumsy statements
Schouten is not happy with the statements of the Public Prosecution Service. The timing is unfortunate, because the Netherlands is working in Brussels to extend the derogation to drag in. According to Schouten, the rulings could jeopardize that extension.
Schouten also says that she is working on the size of the livestock via the warm remediation in pig farming. She also says that a new manure system will take at least another 2 years.
Wouter Job
© DCA Market Intelligence. This market information is subject to copyright. It is not permitted to reproduce, distribute, disseminate or make the content available to third parties for compensation, in any form, without the express written permission of DCA Market Intelligence.