The question is not only when the nitrogen-reducing effect of the pig farming remediation scheme will really start, but the enthusiasm is probably also much less than...
This week, Minister Schouten wrote in a letter to Parliament that all 407 applications can be honored. But ABAB Accountants and Advisors estimates, based on its own customer base, that only half of the total of 407 registered pig farms will actually participate in the scheme and sign it soon. In the best case scenario, 250 of the more than 400 registered companies. The ratio between fattening pig and sow farms and the modernity of the participating farms also play a role in the nitrogen reduction effect.
Near Natura 2000
In the letter to Parliament, LNV Minister Schouten himself indicates that the restructuring scheme for pig farming can only actually lead to nitrogen reduction in the second half of 2021. Because the scheme was set up to reduce odor pollution, it cannot indicate where and what amounts of nitrogen emissions from participating pig farms will disappear. The Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality does provide an overview of the distance to Natura 2000 areas of the companies that have registered. 47% of companies are located within a radius of 5 kilometers.
Incomprehensible twist
Stikstofclaim Foundation chairman John Spithoven finds it incomprehensible that the minister has insisted since this spring until the end of August on a scheme that guarantees in advance that sufficient nitrogen will be reduced at hexagon level this year, but now announces that she is anticipating possible effects of the pig farming restructuring scheme . Spithoven: "She emphasized in the ministerial rail scheme that the same mistake should not be made as with the PAS legislation, namely counting yourself rich in advance. An incomprehensible twist that she is now counting herself rich with the possible effects of the restructuring scheme pig farming."
GroenLinks Member of Parliament Susanne Kröger has requested a parliamentary debate following the cancellation of the ministerial rail track scheme and the shifting of attention to the pig farming restructuring scheme. It is not yet known when this debate will take place.
€1 billion for nitrogen reduction scheme
In the letter to Parliament of last Monday, August 31, the minister also explains the next restructuring scheme for livestock farmers, namely the national livestock farming termination scheme (LBV), which was announced in an earlier letter to Parliament of April 24, 2020. The primary objective of this LBV scheme, in contrast to the livestock farming restructuring scheme, is to reduce the deposition of nitrogen on Natura 2000 areas.
This is achieved by providing a subsidy for the definitive and irrevocable closure of livestock farming locations. €1 billion has been made available for this scheme, divided into two tranches. The first of €750 million and the second €250 million. Subsidy applications for this LBV scheme will be ranked on the basis of the volume of nitrogen deposition on nitrogen-sensitive Natura 2000 areas, to be determined with the Aerius calculation model.
No distance criterion to Natura 2000
The location with the highest deposition will be the first to qualify for a subsidy. No distance criterion to Natura 2000 areas is provided. The level of deposition on a Natura 2000 area determines its position in the ranking. A lower limit of deposition (expressed in moles of nitrogen/ha/year) applies as a threshold value. This is to prevent subsidy being provided for the closure of a location with a (relatively) low deposition, which would not be cost-efficient.
The contours of the Lbv are currently being developed into a concrete subsidy scheme. The Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality aims to provide clarity about the precise conditions and criteria of the LBV scheme by the end of 2020 at the latest.