Bill for phosphate rights dairy cattle provides clarity

The Dutch Dairy Association supports the bill for phosphate rights with which State Secretary Van Dam wants to reduce the phosphate emission at dairy farms with retrospective effect. Van Dam submitted the bill to the Dutch Lower Chamber today.

The bill provides clarity and is in line with the vision of the dairy chain, being that dairy farming is a land-related sector that must be able to develop itself within the environmental limits.

Determination of phosphate rights

The intended law takes 2 July 2015 as the reference date for the determination of phosphate rights. This implies that dairy farmers who have expanded their farms after this date, will not receive any phosphate rights for this growth. Limitation of the phosphate production including a generic deduction for individual dairy farms is radical but inevitable. By setting a limit to the phosphate production in the dairy farming sector, the national phosphate production by the dairy farms can be kept below the European phosphate limit. This brings in sight retention and extension of the derogation of the EU Nitrates Directive, which is indispensable for the sector.

The Dutch Dairy Association counts on a broad support for the bill in both the Dutch Lower Chamber and the Upper Chamber, allowing the phosphate rights system to come into effect on 1 January 2017.