The reason for the hesitation is that, according to the European Commission, the Netherlands is doing too little to improve the quality of ground and surface water. At the end of last year, then Minister of Agriculture Carola Schouten already announced that there were problems.
The new Minister of Agriculture Henk Staghouwer is now in full negotiations. In a letter to the House of Representatives, he hinted that he at the very least expects stricter conditions for farmers, which could cause them serious problems.
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If permission to spread extra manure disappears, an acute problem will arise for almost the entire agricultural sector. In recent years, farmers were able to request permission to spread extra manure. Instead of 170 kilos of nitrogen (more than 42 cubic meters of manure), they could spread a maximum of 250 kilos of nitrogen (more than 61 cubic meters of manure) per hectare over the land. The condition was that they cooperated in monitoring the soil and water quality.
Sell manure
If livestock farmers are no longer allowed to spread the manure, they can still sell it to arable farmers at home and abroad, but the surplus decreases in value. In addition, there is a difference in the quality of manure. For example, cow manure is better than pig manure.
Pig farmers, who are already struggling economically as a result of the African swine fever, are thus saddled with a new problem. They will no longer be able to sell their manure because many arable farmers will opt for the better cow manure that has fallen in price.
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Although the negotiations are not going smoothly, Minister Staghouwer has not completely given up hope. He does foresee that additional checks of water quality will be required. This can mean that the amount of manure to be spread is still limited if there is no rapid improvement.
Anyway problems
The minister also does not rule out the possibility that the European Union will impose a strict fertilizer ceiling. This in turn would mean that the amount of livestock in the Netherlands would have to be limited.
Staghouwer writes to the House of Representatives that he will continue to try to achieve the best possible outcome for the farmers. At the same time, he points to the demands of the European Commission. This makes it impossible for everything to remain the same. In any case, Dutch farmers will have to deal with a manure problem. It should become clear in the coming weeks how big that problem will become.
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