European cycle of livestock farming almost complete

If no soya meal were to be imported, the cycle in Dutch livestock farming would be 100% closed, provided that Europe is seen as a working area. This is apparent from a report by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL), in which the pressure on space in the Netherlands and the effects on nature, the environment and climate are mapped out.

In 2018, 70% of the roughage used by Dutch dairy farming came from national soil. Together with residual products from the food industry, the Dutch soil provides 80% of the feed needs of the dairy farming sector.

The percentages are much lower for intensive livestock farming, respectively 15% for pigs and 5% for chickens. However, pig farming obtains 50 to 60% of its feed from imports of wheat and barley from neighboring EU Member States and 20% of the total feed requirement of pig farming comes from residues from the food industry. Poultry farming mainly obtains grain maize and wheat from Europe. The remaining feed is mainly soy from North and South America.

Manure export to neighboring countries
In 2017 and 2018, almost 40% of pig manure (expressed in phosphate) was exported to Germany, France and Belgium, where a lot of feed grain also comes from. This return flow of phosphate in manure is about the same as the phosphate import in feed grain from northwestern Europe. As a result, the feed-manure cycle on the scale of Northwestern Europe is largely closed. Not entirely, because a significant part of the phosphate and nitrogen in the manure comes from soya from North and South America. According to the authors of the PBL report, the circularity of pig farming cannot be improved much without soy alternatives or shrinkage of the pig population.

Space pressure mainly due to living and working
This section on the circularity of Dutch livestock farming is part of the comprehensive monitor of the National Environmental Vision 2021. According to the PBL, the main conclusion is that the pressure on space in the Netherlands is increasing rapidly, particularly due to living and working, especially in urban areas. Over a period of more than 30 years since 1990, considerable gains have been made in the agricultural sector in reducing emissions of environmentally harmful substances, but for a number of years there has been a trend break and the environmental impact is no longer decreasing, the Planbureau for the living environment.

Horticulture important for GDP
Agriculture and horticulture take up 70% of the space in the Netherlands. Agricultural production on this surface produces 2% of the Gross National Product. That includes horticulture, which largely operates without soil and contributes a lot to the total GNP of the agricultural sector, according to the authors of the PBL report.

© DCA Market Intelligence. This market information is subject to copyright. It is not permitted to reproduce, distribute, disseminate or make the content available to third parties for compensation, in any form, without the express written permission of DCA Market Intelligence.