News item | 01-03-2024 | 14:08
More space to move around in poultry houses, an obligation to always have access to clean drinking water and quality feed and a ban on stables where cows are tied up next to each other. These are some of the proposals that Minister Piet Adema (Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality) makes in his letter to Parliament as a first step towards animal husbandry in the future.
Minister Piet Adema (LNV): “What I would like to see is that all animals in livestock farming can meet their behavioral needs in the future. That animal welfare comes first and that physical interventions such as tail docking are no longer used. This requires a major adjustment to the farming systems and the market and therefore this must be done carefully, while at the same time this is a very feasible goal for 2040. There are livestock farmers who are already well on their way, but it must and can be improved.”
First steps up to and including 2030
This afternoon, Minister Adema sent a letter to Parliament describing the main lines of proposed measures for each livestock farming sector (pigs, chickens, cows, calves), which will be laid down in various General Administrative Orders (AMvBs). A distinction is made between measures that are possible in the short term, up to 2030, and that livestock farmers can and should implement without major financial consequences for their business. In addition, the minister makes proposals for next steps in his letter. However, these measures also entail higher costs for livestock farms. It is up to the next cabinet to make choices in this regard. In the transition to animal husbandry, market and chain parties and financiers also have an important role to play.
A first package of measures will be implemented until 2030. For example, there must be more living and exercise space for broilers and laying hens in the coming years. The bill proposes that steps be taken in the short term to improve the quality and availability of food and drinks, pay more attention to the care of pigs and cows, and give poultry the opportunity to take dust baths and forage,
Reason for bill
At the initiative of the Party for the Animals, the House of Representatives decided in 2021 with an amendment by MP Vestering that housing should not hinder animals from exhibiting their natural behavior. The amendment will come into effect on July 1, 2024, but is impractical for livestock farmers and unenforceable for regulators because it does not indicate what livestock farms must comply with. Partly for this reason, the cabinet decided to discuss an agreement on animal husbandry.
Progress
On March 4, the House of Representatives will discuss the amendment to the Animals Act on animal husbandry. It is up to the House of Representatives to decide whether the bill is considered a full-fledged alternative to the Vestering amendment previously adopted by Parliament to achieve future animal husbandry.