The cabinet has plans ready to expropriate hundreds of farmers in order to quickly reduce nitrogen emissions. In the extreme scenario, the costs of the expropriations could rise to 17 billion euros. reports NRC, which has seen documents about it.
The agricultural sector is the largest cause of nitrogen emissions. These emissions also have consequences for other sectors. The Council of State canceled a large number of new building permits in 2019 because too much nitrogen is emitted in the Netherlands.
According to NRC, the rationale behind the plans is to achieve the ambitions in terms of infrastructure and the construction of homes, according to NRC. The nitrogen law that was passed by the Senate in March does mean that the nature objectives will be achieved in the long term, but these plans are also intended to reduce emissions in the short term.
The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency has now calculated the scenarios of officials from the Ministries of Finance and Agriculture.
No longer voluntary
According to NRC there are two plans. The first costs 9 billion and involves the government buying up production rights from livestock farmers and withdrawing them from the market. The second goes further and means that the land of the farmers is also bought up. It is then transformed to enable more sustainable agriculture. Cost: 17 billion euros.
Farmers may be forced to sell their land to the government. Previously, pig farmers could voluntarily be bought out. However, there were only 278 pig farmers instead of 500 who wanted to make use of that scheme, as it turned out in Juneas a result of which emissions have not been sufficiently reduced. Buying out large farms in the vicinity of vulnerable nature reserves also does not yield enough, according to the plans.
Agricultural organizations such as LTO have always publicly opposed expropriation. However, NRC writes that they have thought along with these plans behind the scenes.
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