'Dung beetles do not die from concentrated feed manure'

According to the Agri Facts Foundation (STAF), the claim that manure is full of crop protection agents is incorrect. STAF has seen the report of the researchers Jelmer Buijs (Buijs Agro-Services) and Margriet Mantingh (WECF) and makes a number of critical comments. 

Two weeks ago, the researchers revealed that dung beetles have no chance of survival, because the pesticide content in the concentrates is said to be far too high. They came to this conclusion on the basis of a study that was done on 2 cattle farms (conventional and organic) in Gelderland.

The researchers also suggest that the level of crop protection agents in the manure indirectly results in fewer meadow birds, although there is no causal link for this. According to them, this is because insects serve as food for (young) birds. Buijs and Mantingh also claim that the manure of the animals that receive no or cleaner concentrates contains significantly more dung beetles.

Claims are wrong
STAF has further investigated the claims and concluded that the insecticides in concentrates are below legal limits. Geesje Rotgers, the project coordinator at STAFF, reports that pesticide residues are even far below the legal European requirements. "That depends on the drug by a factor of 20 to 1.000."

"The claim about the meadow birds is also incorrect, because causal evidence is lacking." Moreover, according to STAF, there is no significant difference in the number of dung beetles. Rotgers says that the significance value was drawn up by 1 of the funders of the study. "We have statistically tested the results, but have not come to a significant difference. Moreover, the number of observations is far too low."

Report not insightful
STAF also finds it objectionable that the statements of the researchers were not verifiable when they were filed, because the report (co-financed by Gelderland) is not transparent. "Since the allegations are quite strong, we wanted to test them. In the end, we managed to get our hands on the report via the mail," Rotgers reports.

"We believe that government-funded research should always be transparent to third parties, in order to verify the results," said Rotgers. STAF has put written questions to the province of Gelderland about this state of affairs.

Wouter Job

Wouter Baan is editor-in-chief of Boerenbusiness. He also focuses on dairy, pig and meat markets. He also follows (business) developments within agribusiness and interviews CEOs and policymakers.

w.baan@boerenbusiness. Nl

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