A small group of a few dozen agricultural businesses around protected nature areas emit a disproportionate amount of nitrogen, which means that road and housing construction in that region is at a standstill. One turkey farmer is even responsible for more nitrogen precipitation than the Netherlands saves due to the speed reduction to 100 km / h.
This is evident from a calculations by an investigative journalism platform on Wednesday Investico for among others The Green Amsterdammer and Faithful. The journalists come up with a list of 25 agricultural companies that are located close to a vulnerable Natura 2000 area and that emit a lot of nitrogen, causing relatively the most damage. The two largest polluters in the list are located in Ermelo, in the Veluwe. For example, a turkey farmer from Ermelo emits 61 times as much nitrogen in nature as an ‘average’ cattle farmer. This farm of 24,000 turkeys is responsible for more nitrogen precipitation annually than the national speed reduction of up to 100 kilometers per hour saved.
The researchers rely on permit registers from provinces and data from more than nineteen thousand livestock farms. The cabinet recognizes that there are peak loads, but does not want to impose obligations on those companies; it hopes for a voluntary application for a buy-back scheme. Minister Carola Schouten of Agriculture said last week The Financial Times that she is not there to buy out farmers. “For me it’s about farmers being able to make the switch to a more sustainable way of farming.” Of course, the question is whether tackling such peak loads can lead to room for reversing the speed reduction. Going back to 100 km / h does not only result in lower nitrogen emissions, however. For the time being, it seems like a measure that will not simply be dropped from the table.
Read more about this at Nu.nl