'So no pig farmer benefits from the agreement'

The Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality is allocating €120 million to remediate pig farms that cause nuisance. We still have to wait for a concrete interpretation, but the plan has not yet led to much enthusiasm in the sector.

At the end of last week, Minister Carola Schouten sent the Outline Agreement on the warm remediation of pig farming to the House of Representatives. A combination of remediation and innovation should ensure that there is less nuisance from pig farms and that the sector as a whole becomes more vital.

The cabinet is making €120 million available for the purchase of pig rights from companies with a major impact on local residents in the South and East concentration areas. Another €80 million (€60 million via the government and €40 million via the business community) is intended for innovations and the development of new techniques, in order to improve stables more quickly and to reduce odor nuisance.

No money for scrapping scheme
The main criticism of the agreement is that pig farmers do not stop just for the purchase of rights. "Stoppers can also sell the rights through the regular market, this is not really getting along", responds Hans Peters of Peters Vastgoed. He had actually expected that the plans would be a little more concrete. "It has been reported many times for some time that there must also be money for scrapping schemes. Only then do potential stoppers take action."

The Coalition Vitalization Pig Farming (Producers Organization Pig Farming, Vion, Rabobank, ForFarmers, Agrifirm and Topigs Norsvin) sat down with the ministry to work out the Outline Agreement. They are also critical. "If you want to improve the living environment in and around pig farms, it is necessary that flanking measures (including resources for demolishing barns that become vacant) are in place," responds chairman Uri Rosenthal.

Not from €40 million
The promises made by the provinces and municipalities are insufficiently specific. "We therefore urge the minister to make further agreements about this." Rosenthal emphasizes that those costs should not be paid from the €40 million that is intended for innovation. "Provinces and municipalities must convert their commitments into financial resources."

The coalition says it sees the agreement as a step towards innovation in the sector. "It is important that the companies that cause the greatest nuisance to the environment are also the first to be eligible for this scheme. This principle must be better involved in the further elaboration," says Rosenthal. 

Debt-free quitting
Pig farmer John van Paassen from Deurne in Brabant is also critical of the plan. "You will get that money for pig rights from the market. The point is precisely that companies that are difficult and cause nuisance can stop in a civilized manner, i.e. debt-free. I have not yet seen any tools in the plans that going to accomplish." He hopes that there will be room for this in further elaboration. "Otherwise, no pig farmer would benefit from this arrangement."

Harm van der Zanden is a pig farming advisor at DLV Advies. He says he is not surprised that the plans are not more concrete. "That's how politics works. It just doesn't go faster." Van der Zanden therefore states that he cannot say anything meaningful about the effects of the scheme. "The rules of the game must first be known. Only then can we think along for whom the arrangement is appropriate or not."

Price pork rights to €130
What has already changed in recent weeks under the influence of the Outline Agreement are the prices for pig rights. These rose to over €130 in the most expensive regions. "That meant an extra 10% in a few weeks," says Peters. "I now expect stabilization. You see more often that prices rise in the run-up to a settlement that could have an impact on the market. We are pre-sorting."

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