Nitrogen: the master heist of the government

First of all, we apologize for the demonstrations in front of the provincial government in Groningen that got out of hand. This shouldn't have happened, but I can understand how this came about. The board of the province of Groningen largely consists of supporters of Jesse Klaver and Tjeerd de Groot. So people who would rather get rid of the farmers than be rich.

But what's going on now? Why do the farmers also go to the provincial authorities and the RIVM? I explain it with the help of examples. In the Netherlands, farmers had a milk quota for more than 30 years. When a farmer wanted to expand, he had to buy his milk quota from a quitting farmer. 

There were even brokers who bought up the entire milk quota from a quitting farmer and then sold it back in small increments to companies that wanted to expand. After all, the price was quite high and so the companies that wanted to grow bought something extra every year. The EU abolished the milk quota in the EU in 2015 and therefore also in the Netherlands.

Bring on more milk
The dairies shouted to the farmers: 'bring more milk, we will process it'. At the time, the one who shouted the loudest for more milk was our Tjeerd de Groot, who then worked for the Dutch Dairy Organization. The banks also said: invest. The young farmers who wanted to grow have made good use of this.

Suppose we are talking about farmer Piet. In 2015 he had about 100 dairy cows. To expand, he has applied for a permit for 200 cows. He obtained that permit from the province at the time. Then he started building a stable. Usually smaller than the requested permit, because he had applied for the permit for future growth. 

Suppose he has built a barn for 180 cows. At the beginning of 2015, the stable was ready. Then cows had to be bought to fill the barn. Because the cows were scarce and due to animal diseases, most farmers decided to grow through their own breeding. In mid-2015 Piet had 115 cows. A year later 130 cows.

Extra discount by the government
In 2017, the government saw that the phosphate ceiling, which the EU has imposed on us, was being exceeded. So the number of cows had to be reduced. The government has introduced the phosphate quota as a solution. It was examined how many cows farmer Piet had on 2 July 2015. This was 115 cows. So farmer Piet had to go back to 115 cows. And there was an extra discount of 8% by the government on the number of cows.

For farmer Piet this means 115 cows minus 8% = 105 cows. So at the end of 2017, farmer Piet was again at 105 cows. Farmer Piet still wants to grow to 200 cows. So to expand, farmer Piet is now trying to buy phosphate rights. These rights cost approximately EUR 11.500 per cow. So in 2018 and early 2019 Piet saved so much that he bought phosphate rights for 5 cows and is now at 110 cows.

We take away the permit
Now comes the nitrogen problem. The government has no solution. Nitrogen rights can only be obtained from farmers in the short term. Now The Hague says, farmer Piet, you have a permit for 200 cows. We will take this permit from you, because on October 4 you only have room for 180 cows in your barn. We use these nitrogen rights to give to construction and other projects, so that something can still go ahead in the Netherlands.

However, the provinces realize that this solution does not yield enough nitrogen rights to allow the projects that are in the pipeline to go ahead. So they now say: 'no farmer Piet, you only have 8 cows on October 110th. We assume these 110 cows, and we take the rest of your rights. We can use all these rights to continue our projects.'

Farmer Piet has bought the rights, entered into expensive obligations with the bank and now all growth opportunities are taken from him to fill his stable. After all, his financial obligations to the bank were based on 180 cows. How should he continue with his repayments? A company that can no longer grow can no longer invest in future developments and is doomed.

Must net internally
The government wants to steal the rights that have not yet been realized from the farmers. Because stealing is not allowed, the government changes the law in such a way that it is suddenly no longer stealing. The provinces want to steal even more from the farmers. How clever is the theft? The minister says: 'Farmer Piet, you can expand to those 180 cows. No problem. But you have to net internally.'

This means: if you expand from 110 cows to 180 cows, you may have a maximum of the same nitrogen emissions as you now have with 110 cows. Farmer Piet already has a new stable, so this is an impossible task. After all, agriculture has had an average of 1990% less nitrogen emissions since 60. 

And when we confront the province with this, the province says: “perhaps we should think about whether this is correct” And so was stated in the parliamentary debate on 17 October. Until 1 December, Schouten will check with the provinces whether this is not too difficult and whether we should go back to 180 for internal netting. But 110 remains the starting point for external netting.

Financial obligations
This means: In an old barn, the nitrogen reduction may have decreased by only 1990% compared to 4. But Boer Piet's new barn has already achieved a nitrogen reduction of perhaps 1990% compared to 80. And that while he has received a permit for 200 cows from the government. Farmer Piet cannot meet his financial obligations and goes bankrupt. While he was just the farmer, who didn't want to stop.

It is very incomprehensible that these theft practices were caused by alarming figures from RIVM about nitrogen emissions. The nitrogen absorbed by the crops is not counted by RIVM. The RIVM just does not want to make public how they arrive at the figures. In any case, much of the figures are based on assumptions. So what are we talking about?

All that fiddling with RIVM figures seems like scaremongering on the part of the population and raises many question marks in my mind. I am also increasingly wondering how the nature authorities influence the RIVM. The less RIVM talks about nature, the more money and land the nature authorities receive from The Hague. After all, because of the wishes of Natuurmonumenten and Staatsbosbeheer, we have so many Natura2000 areas in the Netherlands. Much more than the EU demanded.

Plant species on the list
Politicians have been sleeping and just allowed this. Ultimately, the natural authorities are the cause of our nitrogen problem. They even included plant species on the list that did not even occur in the Netherlands, but of which they dreamed. This does not work, no logically. Nitrogen pollution consists of 2/3 part NOx (industry, aviation and traffic) and 1/3 part NH3 . 

Of this NH3, scientists say, 60% of emissions are caused by agriculture. Agriculture also includes wild animals, domestic animals (3 million), horses and animals belonging to nature conservation authorities. Furthermore, NOx is much heavier than NH3 and the NH3 will therefore immediately volatilize high in the atmosphere.

The NH3 is therefore very difficult to measure. Something that has not been researched. Why not measure first and then know. Then conclude. Due to all these assumptions of the RIVM, the entire economy is now locked. And why? If you build and then put down a house that emits much less, isn't this a win-situation? 

Nature is going to deteriorate more
This government policy leads to the downfall of the whole of the Netherlands. Failure to repent will lead to mass layoffs. Even nature will deteriorate even more. There is only one simple explanation for the pollution of the earth. The cycle pointer of man himself. We must try to get this circular indicator to come to an end and not hide behind the farmer and then say: 'the farmer did it, because he did nothing'. 

In fact, no sector has performed as well as the farmer. No, only we ourselves are the culprit. However, no political party talks about this. Politicians only mop with the tap open. And instead of turning off the tap, the tap is opened further and further.

Jaap Major
Low-Zuthem

Boerenbusiness

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