Minister Christianne van der Wal's famous nitrogen ticket caused a lot of commotion in the agricultural Netherlands a year and a half ago. On December 5, the ministry issued a new map, this time with nutrient-contaminated areas (NV areas). As fierce as the response to the first card was, the response to the second was lukewarm. That is not right, Jaap Haanstra explains. He calls on arable farmers in the Netherlands to take action.
The arable farmer from Luttelgeest, with a lot of experience in advocacy, tells presenter Jurphaas Lugtenburg in this podcast that there is a lot of room for negotiation on the figures that underlie the NV areas. From old measurement data, sample points located in cities to weak statistical substantiation. The consequences for farmers in the NV areas are major, with a 20% reduction on the total nitrogen usage space in 2025. "So much less nitrogen means lower yields," says Haanstra. "The farmer is hit directly in the wallet without any benefit to the environment. As a sector, we can't ignore that, can we?"
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