From 2026, cows must have clean drinking water inside and outside, and one-week-old calves are no longer allowed to stand alone. By 2028, stables for piglets must be adapted in such a way that they can eat with their mother. Broiler chickens will be given more space from 2026 and laying hens will no longer be allowed to be kept in cages from 2030.
These are measures from an amendment to the law that Agriculture Minister Piet Adema (Christian Union) sent to the House of Representatives on Friday, which will debate it on Monday. Adema calls the package a “first step” towards “animal husbandry” in 2040. With the “basic facilities all neatly in order”, he said on Friday after the weekly cabinet meeting.
Never performed
The minister wants to prevent a much more far-reaching amendment to the law from the Party for the Animals from coming into force in July, which was adopted by the House of Representatives and the Senate, but was never implemented. This 2021 amendment by former MP Leonie Vestering would be legally “not feasible and enforceable”, Adema writes in a letter to Parliament.
The Vestering amendment, which actually consists of one sentence, sets limits on (intensive) livestock farming. Keeping animals in a system would not be a “reasonable purpose” for causing them pain or harm, such as cutting off piglet tails and dehorning calves and goats. Livestock animals should always be able to continue to exhibit their natural behavior.
After the amendment, Minister Adema tried to make agreements with the agricultural sector about animal husbandry, but that failed, just like the intended Agricultural Agreement with farmers last year. Adema's new measures in this Friday's letter to Parliament are General Administrative Measures, which leave room for livestock farmers to comply with them themselves.
Adema did not want to talk about a weakening of the Vestering amendment. “Would you like to tell me what exactly the amendment describes? That's the whole problem. It is an open standard. What we are doing is not taking the amendment off the table, we are actually filling it in with: what is animal husbandry?”
Dust bath for chickens
Other measures in the letter include mandatory, long-term pain relief for dairy cattle during dehorning and castration from 2026. Pigs' eating and drinking areas must be designed in such a way from 2030 to reduce mutual aggression over feed and water. Laying hens should have enough dry, loose litter to dust bath and forage for food.
For the long term, in 2040, Adema also outlines his vision for agriculture. Cows have more space inside and outside, and tying them up in stables is prohibited. Calves are no longer separated from their mothers and no longer transported at a young age. Pigs live in the same social group as much as possible, tails are not docked and teeth are not filed. Chickens no longer suffer from hunger and thirst and have enough space to roam and rest,
Farmers could now implement the first package of measures until 2030 “without major financial consequences”, according to Adema. But the more far-reaching reforms of livestock farming up to 2040 will require more costs. Adjusting stables and reducing livestock numbers in accordance with new standards would cost the agricultural sector approximately 1 billion euros, according to an analysis by Wageningen University. Expanding stables to keep the same number of animals as now amounts to 2.7 billion.
“It is currently very difficult to obtain permits for expanding stables,” Adema said on Friday. “If you can keep fewer chickens, this has a direct impact on the farmers' income.”
Competition with Europe
He wants to prevent unfair competition between Dutch and European farmers. Agriculture with animal welfare is more expensive, the risk is that consumers will buy more cheaper, foreign products, while Dutch products are more difficult to sell across borders. Taxpayers ultimately pay for subsidizing farmers.
Also read
A loss of approximately 5 million piglets per year: “Economically still the optimal system, but from an animal welfare perspective it is of course crazy”
“We don't think the ambition in Europe goes far enough,” Adema said on Friday. “If we were to do it here, we would not have a level playing field in Europe.”
Still, Adema expects intensive livestock farming of cows, pigs and poultry to shrink over the next ten or fifteen years, he said. Also with a view to particulate matter, odors and damage to the ecology in rural areas. “We feed a lot of calves, they are fattened here and then cross the border again. Is that a sustainable system? No, I don't think that is a sustainable system. We will also have to work on that.”
#Minister #Adema #animalfriendly #measures #agriculture #weakening