News Manure
Nitrogen production increases slightly, but remains below ceiling
Nitrogen production from animal manure has increased slightly over the past year compared to 2019. Phosphate production has decreased. This is evident from the provisional figures of the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).
The total production of nitrogen in animal manure will increase by 2020% in 1 to 494 million kilos. This means that the level is still more than 10 million kilos below the established nitrogen ceiling. It is the third consecutive year in which the level remains below the ceiling. The total phosphate excretion last year amounted to 151 million kilos, a decrease of 2,8% compared to the previous year. This makes the difference with the established ceiling of 172,9 million kilos even greater.
Dairy farm
Looking at the individual sectors, it appears that dairy farming exceeded the ceiling. With a total of 289,8 million kilos of nitrogen (3,6% more than in 2019), the sector exceeded the ceiling of 281,8 million kilos. The phosphate production from the dairy sector, on the other hand, remained at 74 million kilos, well below the ceiling of 84,8 million kilos.
Nitrogen production in pig farming fell to 90,9 million kilos last year, keeping the sector below the ceiling of 99,1 million kilos. At 35,7 million kilos, the production of phosphate also remained below the ceiling of 39,7 million kilos. It is the fourth year that the sector has remained below the ceiling for both nitrogen and phosphate.
Cattle feed
According to Statistics Netherlands, the fact that more nitrogen and less phosphate has been produced is related to the composition of the animal feed. Cows were fed more nitrogen-rich grass and concentrates and less from the relatively low-nitrogen silage maize. The low phosphorus levels of grass caused a decrease in phosphate production. Nitrogen excretion also increased due to the increase in the dairy herd (+1,1%) and because cows gave more milk and received more feed for it.
The decline in the pig sector is a result of a decline in livestock. The number of finishing pigs stagnated by more than 3% and the number of breeding ferns by more than 1%.
Chanti Oussoren
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