Pig farmers display less stench than it says on paper. According to product organization Pig farming (POV), the data from environmental permits of the province of Brabant are outdated. Livestock farms that have reduced their gesture bumps do not see this in the numbers, and there are stables in the dataset that have been empty for a while.
POV can confirm that there are places in Brabant where the nuisance is serious. “There is no discussion about that,” says chairman Linda Verriet. “But it is very difficult for farmers to influence odor. In case of scent you can’t just turn a button to solve it. ”
Verriet does not deny that the problem of odor nuisance exists. Research by research agency Pouderoyen Tonnaer shows that 16,000 people from Brabant experience ‘serious nuisance’ of odor nuisance caused by livestock farms.
She does not want to play down the problem, but according to the chairman, no good research has been done into where that odor nuisance then comes from: “I know many situations that pointed to the pig farms in the area. While the odor nuisance also comes from other types of companies. It might as well be a different type of livestock farm, or, for example, a waste company. “
According to the chairman, there is a difference between the theoretical odor load and what is experienced in practice. For example, according to Verriet, it is possible that a pig farm on paper provides an overloaded situation, but that people do not experience any inconvenience. By keeping good contact with the neighborhood, according to her, the nuisance can remain limited: “For example, if the air washer has to go out for a day because of maintenance, it will report to the neighborhood. They have every understanding of that. ”
“Talk to the farmer about solutions.”
And it is precisely the continuing to conduct an open dialogue what the interest group sees as a solution for the odor nuisance: “Go in conversation with the farmer. Citizens who avoid a conversation and set up activist actions, there will be no solutions from that. ”
Solutions come according to Verriet in all shapes and sizes. The environment, wind direction and outside temperature are a few of the many factors that can influence odor. With one pig farming, for example, it helps to increase the chimney, with the other the exhaust of the stable must be moved. Every situation is different and therefore requires its own solution.
The organization also emphasizes that the number of pigs in the Netherlands has fallen in recent years, from 11.9 million pigs in 2019 to 10.4 million in the spring of 2024. “And they will no longer be added,” says the chairman. There has been a remediation scheme for pig farms that caused odor nuisance.
The sector is shrinking, but according to Verriet it is possible that the number of pigs in a specific location is increasing because a company is developing.
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A large part of all Dutch pigs are in our province in the stable. According to provisional figures of 2024 of the CBS, there are 4.9 million – around 46.6 percent of the total number of pigs in the Netherlands.
According to POV, pig farmers are very busy with all kinds of considerations to limit emissions. For example, farmers can install a chemical air washer that cleans the air well, better than a biological laundry. But sulfuric acid is involved again, which is harmful to the environment. Finding balance in this is now a daily fare for the pig farmer, says Verriet.