Study disputes the benefit for nature of purchasing peak-load livestock farms | Domestic

During two years, measurements were taken around two dairy farms to determine how much nitrogen was emitted and where it ended up. The research was carried out by the UvA Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED) on behalf of the Mesdag Zuivelfonds foundation. A research report will be published today.

More than 90 percent of the nitrogen ends up in higher air layers and precipitates elsewhere, far abroad. Only 9 percent of the ammonia ends up near the farm, most of it within 100 meters of the stable.

After just a few hundred meters, a farm no longer makes a significant additional contribution to the total amount of nitrogen in the air. In other words: the nitrogen that falls on vulnerable nature outside that ring largely comes from other sources.

The assumption behind the outgoing government’s peak tax approach is precisely that they place an extreme burden on vulnerable flora and fauna. That is why a purchase scheme was opened at the beginning of the summer to a maximum of three thousand companies located within a few kilometers of Natura 2000 areas. In September it was announced that around five hundred companies may be interested in a buyout.

According to secretary Lubbert van Dellen of the Mesdag Zuivelfonds, nature will not benefit much from this. “The purchase of peak loaders close to nature will not be effective because it will not lead to measurable differences in nitrogen load in the intended nature reserves.”

The UvA researchers used no fewer than five different methods to measure what exactly happens to a farm’s nitrogen. The Netherlands is obliged to ensure that nature in Natura 2000 areas does not deteriorate. Excessive nitrogen deposition has negative effects on some flora and fauna.