Amsterdam
The Farmer Citizen Movement (BBB) has been fighting against the prospect of forced reduction of the livestock population since its foundation. Yet BBB Minister Femke Wiersma feels compelled to adopt large parts of a plan that leads to exactly that. There is no question of forced buyouts of farmers, but by skimming off animal and phosphate rights in trade outside the family, the government is indeed forcing a smaller livestock population.
Every time a farmer sells those rights, the government will cancel a portion of them, meaning the next owner will be allowed to keep fewer animals. Every farmer who sells or buys will have to deal with this from 2025. How quickly the livestock population will shrink due to the measure depends, among other things, on the skimming percentage.