Nitrates Directive costs 65.000 hectares of agricultural land

Arable farmer and NAV board member Sjoerd Heestermans is concerned about the 7th Nitrates Directive Action Programme. Concerns about how the government is going to govern the building plan. Concerns about the gap between regulation and agricultural practice. Concerns about the (financial) impact it has on many, many companies. In this long-read opinion, he outlines the scenarios.

Threats in Agriculture. Many colleagues preceded me to express their concerns about agriculture. These often concern the market functioning of our products or the political decisions that increasingly hinder our day-to-day business. And of course about the weather. How exciting the seasons actually are, on which we as individual growers depend. In the past you had to be off the land on November 1st, then the frost came. Today it is harvested almost year round. How fun and interesting it is to talk about this with your colleagues and see how others respond to this. Driven by nature, in which the craftsmanship of every entrepreneur emerges. Unfortunately, you cannot hold the weather liable, that risk is entirely for the farmer himself.

Political concerns
How different it is with political decisions. Something else is going on now. Of course, government policy has been playing an increasingly important role in our business operations over the past 25 years or so. In fact, we have learned to deal with it better and better. I often hear that 'those farmers are not moving with the times.' But actually all farmers have moved with the times. Simply because there was no other way. Anyone who hasn't gone along has long since gone.

However, with upcoming developments in the 7th Nitrates Directive Action Programme, The Hague is going one step further. The government comes to the farm and imposes, among other things, a mandatory crop rotation with rest crops. Or determines that you leave a strip fallow along a watercourse. I can already hear some of you thinking. I already have a dormant crop of 1:4 or 1:3 or is it the right agricultural practice. That's right. That's your opinion. You can keep it to colleagues.

But now something fundamental is changing. The government steps in your front door, over the threshold and tells you when you are growing a dormant crop. The government tells you to leave a strip fallow, without offering any form of compensation in return. I can hear the abbreviation GLB flying from all corners and sides. As if the CAP is a big pot of money from Brussels, from which you can skim haphazardly to implement nature restoration, apply the Nitrates Directive and finance all kinds of other irrelevant projects.

cap money
We have agreed that the CAP money will compensate for the lower food prices. If we find that old-fashioned nowadays and want to adjust it, that's fine. But first we have to secure a good income for the farmer in the long term. As long as this is lacking from all political parties in the Netherlands and Europe, I believe that the CAP money will remain what it is intended for.

Back to that kitchen table. Where the government has now joined your construction book. Where dormant crops will make their definitive appearance. I don't need to tell you anything about the benefits of a dormant crop. Apparently the government doesn't either, because these measures only see them achieve the goal set before their eyes. Reducing nitrate in ground and surface water.

Does the government have another goal? You may think differently if you have read this entire column. It was still somewhat understandable if the balances of rest crops were at the same level as those of root crops. Unfortunately, you cannot influence the grain price from our small Netherlands. But given the major economic impact it has in the traditional intensive construction plans, the concerns from the sector are justified.

Hit like a bomb
Let me take you back to the course of the 7th action programme. Before the summer, we were all still in good hands in the negotiations. The strings still seemed tight. There will be a beef letter from the minister on 26 June. The derogation is at stake. She promises to send the design and scientific justification to the room by the end of the summer recess.

Then it will be September 6. The design falls on the mat. The measures are not wrong and hit like a bomb. All the negotiations, all the small area-specific projects, all the concerns and solutions that have been made from the sector seem to be set aside with a single swipe. Building plan restrictions and buffer strips. Close cycles, grain and straw to the local livestock farmer and manure back without huge paperwork? Too little control, too easy.

Dump back cubic meters per hectare
Manure is a problem, not a valuable basis for vegetable cultivation. It just makes more animals. Please process as much as possible, create as many transport movements as possible, millions of investments and nuisance to the environment. Dumping the leaching-sensitive thin fraction back through low levels with as much cubic meters per hectare as possible and transferring the valuable thick fraction across the border, where they are just a drop in the ocean to increase the soil fertility there even slightly.

By October 1, all crops must be off the sandy and loess soils and in the long term green manures everywhere should be returned. It is almost incomprehensible how the government can stand so far from reality. Potatoes, beets, carrots, chicory and other crops that are in the most important phase of their growth and that make maximum use of the nitrogen from the soil that we have weighed so well must be slaughtered.

In order to then sow a thin crop under cold and wet conditions that can never take root at all with the nitrogen that is sensitive to leaching without a starting dose. Even before the chimneys in Dinteloord and Vierverlaten are warm enough, the entire acreage of those areas must already be on the heap. The starch potatoes are no different and they run even longer. Not to mention the extra harvesting capacity that would be required.

Nitrogen Deficiencies
In the sand cultivation areas, the nitrogen application is further tightened. Did you have to undergo a discount of 20% a few years ago, that will now be increased to 30%. The Northern sandy areas will also have to believe it. The government wants to introduce a 15% discount on this. For green manures, this will be completely abolished on all grounds. In recent years there has been increasing knowledge about balanced fertilization and everyone tries to fertilize their crop as optimally as possible with as little input as possible. A generic discount will therefore lead to a loss of yield, which in turn has indirect consequences for the farmer's income.

The design is already in Brussels. Economic impact analysis? That will follow. The 1 October rule is immediately seen by all parties as totally unacceptable. Farmers' incomes are under so much pressure, crops are disappearing and family businesses fear for their survival. There is a strong shortage of raw materials. Whether the processors can pay more for sugar and potatoes, because the acreage is shrinking. As if we don't produce for a global market at all. Some nuance is then created in the economic impact analysis. Cultivation balances are negative.

65.000 hectares of agricultural land disappear
The conclusions drawn from it are poignant with reality. With the construction of buffer strips, an estimated agricultural area of ​​no less than 64.701 hectares will disappear, an area larger than the Noordoostpolder. The reduction in fertilizer placement space can be as much as 12%. That means no less than 15 million kilos of phosphate. Take the back of the cigar box and divide it by the production per year per cow. per pig. The numbers are staggering. The shifts are incalculable. There is a domino effect in the entire sector. Soil and fertilizer markets are completely out of balance.

In recent weeks, all interest groups and various chain parties have put together an alternative plan in a bizarrely short period of time. The urgency is great. We can be proud that all parties in both the vegetable and animal sectors - supported by chain parties, suppliers, buyers, contractors - act so unitedly to the outside world.

The solidarity in the sector simply has its ups and downs. This is not surprising when we look at how sectors have sometimes played out against each other in recent years. The battle for the land, the nitrogen dossier, the nitrates directive, the new CAP. These are all matters that concern us as an entire sector. And we also face challenges. We also have to take responsibility for our part. There are peak loads in certain regions and there are structural misunderstandings throughout cultivation from a to b. For years we have jointly paid for the consequences through previous action programmes. But we are now at a turning point. Business continuity is at risk. We must not let the continuation of generations of hard-working families be lost by outliers of ruthless scale-enlargers who disregard regulations and good agricultural practice.

3.700 views
No fewer than 3.700 views were submitted on the first draft. If only I could tell you more about which quarter most of them came from. However, due to a number of devious rules, little is made public. Afraid that we as a sector might find support or solidarity? The game of politics can be played in many ways.

The first steps towards an alternative have therefore been taken by the interest groups. That is what they are intended for. As an individual you achieve nothing. There will come a time when we as a whole sector will have to take up the barricades. I observe among my peers that the interest in advocacy is not increasing, to say the least. That's worrying. I often wonder why that is. Is it still too good? Do we even fit in? Are we satisfied with an investment here and there? Do we see our neighbors too little due to social media and do we not know if there are any concerns?

The milk truck picks up and the feed truck delivers. Suppliers of crop protection products and service companies drive up and down. Loading bulk cars from cold stores. A farmer always puts the continuity of the company first. Maybe a better yield next year. Maybe a little more milk next week. Or a better yield and price. This scope is part of our entrepreneurship and ensures a good income.

Entrepreneurial freedom
I believe that we should not allow the government to restrict that last piece of entrepreneurial freedom. The limit has been reached. It's time for a wake-up call. The future of livestock farming has been under pressure for some time, but that of arable farming is now more than ever. All our concerns mentioned above, a land market smear campaign with skyrocketing prices, and the most dangerous ingredient is an unpredictable government that lacks a long-term bottom view.

This will not be a battle for the quitters or for those who want to continue for a few more years. This will be a matter for all of us, for young and old. Take responsibility among yourselves and fairly disclose and handle all matters together. So that we don't get played out. I therefore appeal to all my colleagues to work together for the beautiful sector that we have here in the Netherlands. To enjoy a good income, a liveable and healthy countryside and a good future for many years to come.

About the author: Sjoerd Heestermans (32) has an arable farm in Oud-Vossemeer in Zeeland. In addition, he is a general board member of the Dutch Arable Farming Union (NAV) with the portfolios for ware potatoes and onions, minerals and soil management and biofuels.

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