Tjeerd de Groot is right: livestock is halved

The essence of the nitrogen letter, which the cabinet published on April 24, is easily missed. The cabinet expresses its aim in 'a mere' 255 mol per ha per year of nitrogen reduction, a target value that hardly anyone says anything. A 'huge' subsidy amount of €5 billion is linked to this, making the package appear generous. Appearances are deceptive: this target value means halving agriculture.

The nitrogen letter makes clear where the government wants to go: 'to bring the nitrogen deposition below the critical deposition value on at least 2030% of the hectares with nitrogen-sensitive nature in Natura 50 areas by 2000.' The significance of that pursuit is not picked up by the media, nor by farmers' organisations.

This spring, Mesdag Zuivelfonds calculated what the nitrogen gain for vulnerable nature would mean if agriculture was halved: this is around 250 mol/ha/year. This value is comparable to the government's objective in the nitrogen letter. This letter also shows that the government wants to achieve almost the entire nitrogen gain for nature (for as much as 90%) from agriculture. Roughly speaking, it can be concluded that the Cabinet is committed to halving (emissions from) agriculture between now and 2030. D66 MP Tjeerd de Groot, who has previously argued intently for a forced halving of the Dutch livestock, will therefore receive a just his way.

Not goals, but standards need to be screened
The study by Mesdag Dairy Fund raises serious questions about the feasibility of nitrogen standards for nature reserves. Calculations show that if agriculture is completely abolished in 70% of the vulnerable nature areas, the standard will still not be met. If the whole of the Netherlands is turned into a reserve (no agriculture, industry, habitation and traffic), the nitrogen standard is still exceeded in 32% of the nature reserves. This is because the contribution from abroad and from the sea is already greater than the nature reserve can handle.

The cabinet writes in its letter that it wants to discuss the goals of Natura2000. However, it is not so much about the goals (which species do you want to protect), but about the reality of the nitrogen standards (expressed in critical deposition values). And about the implementation of the European Habitats Directive, which in the Netherlands has been unilaterally translated into nitrogen standards for the business community. The Hordijk Committee, which was instructed to test the nitrogen calculations, said it would not consider the critical deposition values. While these values ​​are the main reason for all nitrogen legislation.

Mopping forest plantations with subsidy tap open  
Finally, the minister wants to accelerate the acquisition of land for planting new forests to compensate for the felling of trees as a result of Natura 2000 management plans. The minister thus obscures the real reason for the felling of trees. The national government faces a significant task for sustainable energy in order to be able to comply with European agreements. In that context, very substantial SDE subsidies have been allocated to the combustion of biomass (read: forests), as a result of which the felling of forests brings more money into the drawers of site managers than the maintenance of forests.

Ghost Rotgers

Investigative journalist in the agricultural sector

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