The Netherlands should take more measures against nitrogen emissions from agriculture | Farmers protest against the nitrogen agreement

These are the conclusions of the Dutch Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL), the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Wageningen University (WUR) and the engineering company Deltares in a joint study.

According to the researchers, “farmers will have to implement many more costly and far-reaching measures on their farms” if the government wants to achieve the targets in 2030 or 2035. In this case, livestock numbers would have to be reduced further, nature reserves would have to be expanded, and the use of hundreds of Thousands of hectares of agricultural land. It is “unreasonable” that all of this could be accomplished within ten years “given the unprecedented scale of these tasks.”

The Netherlands has allocated more than €24 billion to make agriculture more sustainable. However, provinces believe such changes would cost more than double.

Authorities advise setting priorities. “Everything cannot be done at the same time,” measures must be implemented “little by little and step by step.” For example, priority can be given to areas experiencing strong nature degradation.

Researchers also wonder whether the government can transform agriculture in such a short time. The proposals require “a machine that operates much faster than in the past”, while capacity and experience have already been reduced. Furthermore, it must be clear who is responsible for what. This prevents The Hague and the cantons from continuing to point fingers at each other.

Resigned Minister of Nature and Nitrogen Christiane van der Waals speaks of a “task of unprecedented scale”. Like the researchers, she believes the government should not wait for “perfect plans that have been worked out in every detail.” The Minister believes that the best approach is to work on solutions step by step and modify them gradually if necessary. The minister says he is working on this in different ways.

The question is, how much of Van der Waals' plans will remain in the new government? The two main players in the cabinet formation, BBB and PVV, see nothing in the current nitrogen rules.