Farmers go to court if lock on livestock farming remains

LTO Noord and various livestock farmers have announced on 1 November that they will go to an administrative court if the province of Groningen continues to maintain the lock on intensive livestock farming after 1 January 2019. This is reported by Dagblad van het Noorden, following the meeting of the Provincial Council.

LTO Noord has stated that the expansion of intensive livestock farms should remain possible if they are located far enough from the residential centers and therefore do not (cannot) cause any nuisance.

Province does not want expansion
The province of Groningen has indicated that it does not want more pigs and chickens to be kept in the coming years. It invokes the fact that upscaling can ensure that infectious diseases and resistance to antibiotics can be transmitted from animals to humans. According to the province, that would threaten public health. 

Alma den Hertog of LTO Noord arrives late Newspaper of the North know that she thinks an expansion ban is excessive. "With a share of 2,6%, intensive livestock farming is a small player here. Yet we are often part of discussion, prejudice and fear."

Investing
On the other hand, livestock farmers indicate that they need to keep more animals in order to be able to invest in animal and environmentally friendly production. In recent years, the sector has had the opportunity to invest millions with financial help from the government. That hardly happened, because the market for animal-friendly produced meat (especially abroad) is limited.

GroenLinks indicates that this is precisely a reason to keep the lock on. The party is supported in this by D66, the SP, the Party for the Animals, the PvdA and the Kaatee faction. These parties together have sufficient votes to maintain the lock. The CDA and ChristenUnie do allude to a reconsideration of provincial policy, but also indicate that they do not want to push it to the limit. 

Judge comes into play
LTO Noord also states that it will have the courts assess whether a ban on the basis of the Environment Act is legally valid. "We think that this discussion has a high level of 'why not? That's why not'", Taeke Wahle of LTO Noord told Dagblad van het Noorden.

Kimberly Baker

Kimberly Bakker is an all-round editor at Boerenbusiness. She also has an eye for the social media channels of Boerenbusiness.

k.baker @boerenbusiness. Nl

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