The bad news came in stages. At the end of 2022, it was announced that Dutch farmers will be allowed to spread less and less manure on their fields in the coming years. Moreover, some of the stricter rules did not come into effect this year, as Minister Piet Adema (Agriculture, Christian Union) had announced, but in 2023. And last month, the Minister of Agriculture had bad news for farmers for the third time in a row: the strict fertilizer standards. will apply in more regions than previously known – not only the sandy and clay soils in Overijssel, Gelderland, Utrecht, North Brabant and Limburg are affected, but also in Drenthe, Flevoland, Friesland, Groningen, South Holland and Zeeland. the manure standards have been tightened.
In the agricultural debate at the end of December, there was an alarming reaction to the tightened fertilizer rules. “The sector is on fire,” said Member of Parliament Cor Pierik (BBB), who previously worked at CBS as an agricultural expert. This was “a noose around the neck” of farmers, thought Pieter Grinwis (Christian Union). And so was the sector itself not amused. A typical example of “excessive” policy, according to LTO, the largest farmers' interest group in the Netherlands with around 35,000 members.
The tightened rules have been imposed from Brussels by the European Commission. For several years now, 'Brussels' has been urging the Netherlands to improve its water management. Ground and surface water in the Netherlands is polluted with excessively high phosphorus and nitrate values, mainly caused by agricultural manure.
Since the beginning of this week, thousands of farmers have been allowed to spread less animal manure on their fields than before. And they have to reduce this even further over the next two years. In addition, the 'manure ceiling', which determines the total amount of manure that may be spread over farmland in the Netherlands, is going down. And they have not been allowed to spread manure on the edges of their fields or grassland since March last year.
This is a boost for Dutch nature, says Piet Groenendijk, researcher at Wageningen University & Research. Groenendijk investigated the consequences for nature on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. Broadly speaking, because less manure is spread, ammonia and nitrous oxide emissions decrease, he says. “That is good for the nitrogen and climate goals.”
75 billion kilos of manure
No country in Europe has as many chickens, pigs and cows per hectare as the Netherlands. They produce a staggering number of kilos of manure every year: 75 billion kilos, according to 2021 research by the Strategic Environment Chamber – a collaboration of various inspection, intelligence and investigation services. Some of this is exported abroad or processed into energy. Since 2006, Dutch farmers, like other farmers in Europe, have been able to apply for an exemption to spread more manure on their land than is actually allowed according to the European standard. This exemption is called 'derogation'.
With such an exemption, a farmer may spread up to 250 kilos of animal manure per hectare instead of 170 kilos. Because he can fertilize the fields extra, more grass grows for the cows. A farmer with a 'derogation exemption' must meet several conditions: the most important is that eighty percent of his land consists of grassland. Grassland can better withstand large amounts of manure, says Gerard Velthof, professor at Wageningen University. In 2022, there were 15,400 Dutch companies that used this exemption.
This exemption is for dairy farmers: they own a lot of their own land and save costs by spreading the manure on their own fields. Poultry farmers and pig farmers are not eligible for the exemption. Because they have less land, they are forced to have their manure removed by professional companies. They take it abroad where it is spread over fields or processed.
According to calculations by the Dutch Center for Manure Valuation (NCM) on behalf of The Financial Times the Dutch manure surplus will increase fivefold in the near future, because Dutch farmers are allowed to spread less manure on their fields. This surplus drives up the disposal price of manure, according to the NCM. This will increase in the near future from 25 euros per ton of manure to possibly 50. The additional costs for farmers could amount to tens of thousands of euros per year.
The sector and the House of Representatives reacted to this with horror. Farmers cannot cope with this financially and are in danger of going bankrupt, they say. “I believe that we cannot simply allow this to lead to a cold restructuring, and that it is left to the market who can pump and who can drown,” said Eline Vedder (CDA) during the agricultural debate at the end of December. Due to the loss of the exceptional position, farmers also have to purchase more fertilizer, says Pierik of the BBB. They need that fertilizer to grow the grass that is fed to the cows. But this also creates more CO2emissions, and the fertilizer ends up in surface water. “Not to mention the extra costs for the farmers,” says Pierik.
But the change in manure policy will not quickly lead to a cold clean-up, experts say. The dairy farms have sufficient financial buffer. They have had two good years – in 2022 milk prices were historically high. “A number of companies will collapse,” says WUR researcher Groenendijk.
Harm Holman (Member of Parliament for NSC) fears that farmers will spread their manure surplus 'illegally' over their land due to stricter rules. “You definitely don't want that.” Farmers can receive hefty fines for this from the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA).
The surplus increases the risk of manure fraud, WUR writes on its website. In recent years, large quantities of manure have been tampered with on several occasions in the sector, according to research by the Strategic Environment Chamber in 2021. “The entire chain is susceptible to manure fraud,” the researchers wrote. An analysis of 21 criminal investigations showed that it could not be determined where 185 million kilos of manure had gone because it had been “not accounted for or had been incorrectly accounted for”.
Farmers who illegally spread their surplus across their land or did not destroy it according to the law had little to fear from law enforcement authorities in the Netherlands, according to the researchers: the chance of being caught is minimal.
Defeat for Adema
The withdrawn manure exemption is a defeat not only for farmers, but also for outgoing minister Adema. This file has been bothering him tremendously over the past year. His ministership was hanging by a thread at the beginning of 2023, after he repeatedly misinformed the House of Representatives and farmers about this subject.
A compensation fund of 120 million euros has now been set up for farmers who suffer a lot of economic damage because they are allowed to spread less manure. Adema is not allowed to reimburse all additional costs that farmers incur due to the disappearance of the exemption, because European state aid rules prohibit it from doing so.
During the agricultural debate, Pierik from the BBB urged Adema to sit down with Brussels again. No chance, said Adema. The Netherlands is not the only country that will lose its manure exemption, Adema said. This also happens in Ireland. And France, Germany and Belgium also have manure problems, says WUR researcher Piet Groenendijk. “The Netherlands is not unique.”
The agricultural sector and Adema are clinging to the last straw. They hope that the European Commission will agree to the possibility of processing animal manure into fertilizer, and that it can then still be spread over the land. Manure processing also costs money, but i
s cheaper than disposal. Adema is in discussions with the European Commission about this, he said during the agricultural debate.
WUR researchers Velthof and Groenendijk are sceptical. The discussion about converting animal manure into fertilizer has been going on since 2008, according to Velthof. For the European Commission, says colleague Groenendijk, the following applies: “Animal manure remains animal manure, even if you have processed it.”
According to Groenendijk, one solution remains to regain control of the manure surplus: “Shrinkage of the livestock.”
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