Research: manure fraud is hardly detected

Manure fraud is still widespread in the Netherlands, and there is hardly any control over this fraud. This is stated in an as yet unpublished study commissioned by the Strategic Environmental Chamber. This is a collaboration between various inspection, intelligence and investigative services. NRC has seen that report.

Farmers who illegally spread their manure surplus over their land or who do not destroy it according to the law have little to fear from investigative authorities in the Netherlands, the newspaper writes. The chance that the fraudsters will be caught is small, the investigation shows.

The Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate does not yet want to respond substantively to the report and the article by NRC. “Because the investigation is not yet public, it is therefore useful not to prejudge any conclusions and recommendations,” said a spokesperson.

Fraud to save costs

The study analyzes more than three hundred investigations by the police and the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) into manure fraud over a period of fifteen years. It is the first national inventory of fraud. It is not clear how many fraudsters have been convicted.

In the Netherlands, about 75 billion kilos of manure is produced annually, mainly from livestock farming. Farmers are not allowed to spread all the manure from their animals on the land. The manure contains phosphates and nitrogen. A surplus of these substances is not good for the soil and pollutes the groundwater. That is why part of the manure has to be disposed of in accordance with the rules and that costs the livestock farmers a lot of money. Fraud is committed to save on those costs.

Big parties

Various methods are described in the report. The researchers saw that barn systems were manipulated. Farmers also pretend to sell their surplus or drive elsewhere, while secretly spreading it over their own land. For this, papers are forged, making it seem as if the manure is destroyed somewhere else.

The investigation also shows that these are large parties. In 21 criminal cases, a total of 185 million kilos of manure was involved, of which it is not known where it has gone. And in five other cases, it is not known what happened to 1,235 tons of manure. This resulted in a total of tens of millions of euros in benefits for farmers.

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