Farmers are not pleased with the nitrogen tool that appeared on Monday to discover which buy-out scheme they can get. “We have to do a whole study before we finally know where we stand” and “this is really not possible for older farmers”, they responded. NU.nl spoke to three farmers who are not very enthusiastic.
Na vier jaar stress en zorgen hoopten Ursula en Martijn te Brake maandag op meer duidelijkheid: zijn ze wel of geen piekbelasters (bedrijven die veel uitstoten)? En wat betekent dat dan voor hun melkveebedrijf? Het antwoord blijft voorlopig uit, want al snel na het openen van de online rekentool hadden de melkveehouders er genoeg van.
“Het systeem is ingewikkeld en we kwamen de ene na de andere vage term tegen waar we nog nooit van hebben gehoord”, zucht Ursula te Brake vanuit Gelderland aan de telefoon. “We moeten nu eerst een hele studie gaan doen voordat we weten waar we aan toe zijn. Sorry hoor, maar ik moet ook nog gewoon m’n kalveren gaan voeren.”
De rekentool is onderdeel van de uitkoopregelingen voor boeren waarmee het kabinet de stikstofcrisis wil aanpakken. Er is één regeling voor piekbelasters en één algemene regeling. Het kabinet reserveert 1,5 miljard euro voor het vrijwillig uitkopen van boeren.
‘It’s a lot of extra work’
Michel van Dorst, dairy farmer in Etten-Leur, has just opened the tool when NU.nl calls him on Monday afternoon. “Building influence, heat content, plume rise”, Van Dorst sums up. “I know that data is there, but collecting and processing it all is too complicated for me. So I can call my advisor again.”
Van Dorst finds it incomprehensible that it has to be this way. “The government already has all this information, because it’s part of the permits I applied for earlier. It’s just another lot of extra work. I might be able to learn it at 31, but for many other farmers this is really impossible.”
262-page guide to helping farmers
The ministry has set up a helpline and a manual for farmers who cannot resolve the matter themselves. It has five pages. For farmers who need even more help, there is a more extensive handbook of 262 pages. Self-study and work that the Overijssel dairy farmer Eduard Wullink is not really keen on.
“I’m mainly busy with my cows now. Making sure they’re doing well with the warm weather,” Wullink responds as he walks through his barn. He takes into account that he himself is one of the peak loaders, but Wullink is not really worried yet.
“If I understand correctly, not all arrangements are fully known yet. I want to wait and see before I start thinking about whether I want to buy myself out or not. We have enough other things here to really worry about. calculator will come later.”
Krijg meldingen bij nieuws over het stikstofbeleid
Ministry: ‘Simpler tool was not an option’
In a response to NU.nl, the Ministry of Nature and Nitrogen admits that “some entrepreneurs have difficulty completing the tool”, but says that a simpler working method was not an option.
For example, an attempt was made to develop a so-called ‘quick scan’ that gave entrepreneurs a first impression after a few simple questions as to whether they are peak loaders. But because it was a simplification of the current tool, “the reliability of the outcome became uncertain”, a spokesperson emailed. “Since we attach great importance to a reliable outcome, we have decided not to use the quick scan.”
The ministry denies that it itself has all the data to make the calculations. “Whether a company is a peak loader is determined on the basis of current, company-specific information that we do not have. We also think it is important that entrepreneurs can check at their own time whether they fall under the approach.”
Just send us a letter and tell us what the problem is with us and what we should do about it. I don’t understand all this bullshit.
‘Ridiculous that we have to find out like this’
Ursula te Brake can do little with that explanation. “I think it’s really ridiculous that we have to use a calculation method to find out about the future of our company and therefore our whole life.”
In the meantime, Te Brake and her husband are becoming increasingly concerned, because their dairy farm is close to a Natura 2000 area. They therefore assume that they are one of the peak loaders, but are eager to ‘burp on’. That is precisely why they hoped that the government would make the schemes as tempting as possible for other farmers.
“We work so hard here to show that you can farm next to a Natura 2000 area. We work very extensively (extensively, ed.) With 2.5 cows per hectare. And we are prepared to make even more adjustments , such as changes in the feed and adjustments in the barn to further reduce emissions. But soon we may still be turning with a mandatory buyout. That is the frustrating part of this whole thing.”
2023-06-12 15:35:00
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