Farmers face livestock cuts as nitrogen plan falls short

Dutch farmers are still facing a compulsory cut in the number of animals they can keep as livestock, after the government’s environmental assessment agency found the cabinet’s nitrogen plan would fall just short of its own 2035 target.

The agency, PBL, assessed the €20 billion nitrogen plan at the cabinet’s request and called it an important step that could bring the farming emissions target within reach.

But it found the measures worked out so far leave a gap, and that an across-the-board cut of 5% to 10% in farmers’ livestock rights, the permits that cap how many animals a farm may hold, is still needed.

The coalition has always said that a blanket cut is a last resort, to be used only if the targets are missed in 2035. Agriculture minister Jaimi van Essen called it an “emergency brake” on Friday and “a no-go for the cabinet.”

Farmers must reduce ammonia emissions by 42% to 46% by 2035, against 2019 levels, under the package agreed in June. PBL expects the herd to shrink further regardless as farms adapt to those rules, with some businesses forced to close.

The agency was more positive about the plan’s benefits for the environment, but warned the nitrogen problem will not just disappear. On more than half the area of the most sensitive protected sites, deposition is still expected to breach the critical threshold in 2035.

Nature groups called the plans the minimum needed to start repairing decades of damage. The farmers’ party BBB and the farm lobby LTO said the extra cut was unacceptable, though LTO is staying at the table to negotiate the rest of the package.