Agricultural companies that have valid phosphate soil samples with only the so-called P-Al or Pw number may continue to use them next year. Samples drawn in 2019 will remain valid until 2023.
Samples from 2018 remain valid until 2022. This is reported by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV) and interest group LTO. On Christmas Eve, 24 December, LNV minister Carola Schouten sent a letter to Parliament about this.
Talking again in 2021
Due to the introduction of the new, combined phosphate indicator, some entrepreneurs, for example arable farmers on (Southwestern) clay, would lose more than 2021 percent in 2020 compared to 10 in terms of phosphate fertilization scope. That was indigestible for LTO Nederland, and a lot of effort was put into the LNV to prevent this.
If this transitional arrangement does not provide a solution, work with the combined phosphate indicator will probably be granted for a year. LNV wants to use 2021 to enter into discussions with the sector about the phosphate usage standards in relation to the 7th Action Programme. Minister Schouten emphasizes that the innovation is necessary to work towards a better balanced fertilization and thus a further decrease in emissions from fertilization to water.
Digital fertilizer voucher also postponed for a year
In the Christmas Eve letter to Parliament, LNV Minister Schouten also informs that the intended mandatory digital manure transport voucher will be postponed to 2022. A number of pilots in 2021 should prevent any teething problems during the transition period. The results of the test and pilot phase determine the way in which the digital fertilizer voucher is introduced. Officially called the Transport Animal Manure Registration System (RVDM).
Minister Schouten now assumes that the RVDM can be rolled out for all entrepreneurs and transport after the 2021 manure season. By using the months after the spreading season, in which relatively few manure transports take place, for the broad roll-out of the system to all entrepreneurs, the system can be applied to every farm in a relatively quiet period and any teething problems can be remedied before the spreading season in 2022. starts, the minister said in the letter to parliament.
Alarm bell at the beginning of November
During the manure debate at the beginning of November of this year, CDA Member of Parliament Jaco Geurts warned that introduction from 1 January of next year could lead to major problems. Until then, however, the minister was of the opinion that the introduction of the mandatory digital fertilizer voucher as of 1 January 2020 should not come as a surprise, since this intention had already been announced in 2019.