LTO and minister quickly discuss new manure policy

This month, the advocacy organization LTO Nederland and agriculture minister Carola Schouten will discuss the contours of the new manure policy. LTO longs for fewer means requirements, more trust and the minister's freedom of choice.

On Tuesday evening, October 6, the fertilizer legislation specialists from LTO Nederland, Michael van der Schoot and Claude van Dongen, discussed the contours of the new fertilizer policy with the members during a webinar. It is a follow-up to the reconsideration of the new manure policy. This process has been going on for a few years, in the run-up to the seventh Nitrate Action Programme.

The contours that the minister has drawn up in her letter to parliament of September 8 outlined do not match the new manure policy that LTO Nederland would like to see. Minister Schouten outlines 3 main points: fully land-based livestock farming where no manure has to be processed, 100% manure processing for non-land-based intensive livestock farming and extra measures for vulnerable areas in which water quality (despite decades of tightened manure legislation) is still not achieved.

Fewer drug prescriptions
It is true that Schouten also emphasizes in this letter that she wants to offer freedom of choice to various agricultural entrepreneurs, depending on the way in which their company is set up. Yet LTO Netherlands lacks that freedom. According to the interest group, the manure flows are channeled supply-driven from above in the minister's plan, whereby the farmers themselves have less freedom of choice than is currently the case about how and where the manure is supplied and removed.

More generally, LTO Nederland is of the opinion that too many means regulations and 'calendar rules' continue to exist, while targets must be steered towards. Sowing a catch crop 1 day earlier or later should not play a role. Achieving water quality is the most important goal in the new manure policy, especially in the sandy areas in the south, east and north-east of the Netherlands, where the nitrates directive is still structurally exceeded. "Give entrepreneurs the freedom of choice about how they want to ensure that they achieve these goals", emphasized van Dongen and Van der Schoot.

Cultivation bans
However, it is a bridge too far for LTO Nederland if the intention to ban certain crops in the arable sector (in areas where the water quality is still not being achieved) is implemented. According to LTO Nederland, this is alluded to in the letter to parliament. This includes potatoes and leeks. 

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