In April the Flemish government presented a proposal to deal with the high levels of nitrogen emissions in the region. With the package of measures, Flanders wants to drastically reduce emissions to avoid a permit freeze such as that in place in the Netherlands, where nitrogen emissions are the highest in Europe.
The package includes withdrawing permits for 40 livestock farms and two manure treatment plants with a particularly high nitrogen impact by 2025. These will be compensated financially, and they will be given an extra bonus if the business is closed earlier. In addition, there will be a programme for voluntary decommissioning of livestock farms with a medium-high nitrogen impact. The intention is to reduce the number of pigs in the region by 30% by 2030.
The remaining livestock farms are obliged to reduce their ammonia emissions. For poultry and pigs, the requirement is a 60 per cent reduction at barn level by 2030. For beef cattle 7.7% and for dairy cattle 23.7%.
Exceptions are made for small-scale and organic farms with little nitrogen impact and ammonia emissions below 500 kg per year.
They also propose to introduce a ban on the spreading of manure and fertilisers in sensitive areas from 2030.
According to the largest farmers’ union, Boerenbond, the framework “is a sledgehammer blow for our agriculture and horticulture”. Another farmers’ union, Algemeen Boerscyndikat, also expresses disappointment with the way the legislation was drafted but still recognises the need for it: “it is necessary to look at this file with some form of future orientation for the farming sector, as well as from an environmental point of view”.
The environmental organisation Bond Beter Leefmilieu comments on their discontent: “The fact that this has to be done in a way that is very painful for farmers and very expensive for society is not so much the fault of the current choices, but of years of bad policy”.
The draft legislation is open for consultation until 17 June: https://omgeving.vlaanderen.be/openbaar-onderzoek-pas
