Nobody seems to know why all kinds of new nitrogen solutions in Brabant are not approved. They may be there, but should not be used as a saving measure. The provincial council is fed up with this and is now urgently looking for someone who can get new smart inventions approved.
Who’s coming?
Under the leadership of the PVV, VVD, Forum of Democracy and Local Brabant, a large majority of the Provincial Council wants a ‘quartermaster’. Someone who is above all parties involved in the process of getting new nitrogen solutions approved. “A Brabant Johan Remkes”, say both Maikel Boon of the PVV and Wilma Dirken of the VVD.
Why does he have to come?
The Provincial Executive, the provincial government, says it does not know why it is not possible to get new nitrogen-saving measures approved for farmers, but also for building Brabant. The Provincial Council is fed up with this and wants this process to be smoothed out. “We no longer have the luxury and, above all, the time to wait years for all kinds of approvals,” explains VVD member Wilma Dirken.
There are a limited number of nitrogen-saving measures that farmers are now allowed to use. These are on the so-called RAV list of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. These are fixed and often very expensive barn modifications, but there is a debate as to whether this saves sufficient nitrogen. Only if a nitrogen solution is not on the RAV list does it not count as a nitrogen saving measure for a livestock farmer.
What will it do?
Brabant is one of the four provinces where experimental nitrogen solutions can still be approved, even if they are not on the RAV list. These new solutions just don’t get that approval. “Everyone is pointing fingers at each other, from the municipality to the environmental service and from the farmer to the provincial government, but somewhere it gets stuck,” explains Maikel Boon. The quartermaster must therefore find out where the problem lies.
There must be evidence that such an innovative solution actually saves nitrogen, which is often lacking, according to the provincial government. PVV MP Boon disputes that, as do many farmers. “For example, a veal farmer from Someren has a special stable floor. Studies by universities and a thick report say that it works. Only it does not get a stamp or approval as a nitrogen-saving solution.”
What’s in it?
If the quartermaster ensures that it is more successful to get new nitrogen solutions approved, that would be a huge victory for both politicians and farmers. Farmers have more options to reduce nitrogen emissions from their stables. In addition, many of these experimental nitrogen solutions are cheaper and easier to introduce than those already on the RAV list.
According to Wilma Dirken, the knife cuts both ways. “If we allow those smart solutions because they work, nitrogen will be saved. This will also create space to build, for example.”
Dirken also wants municipalities to receive help from the province to apply nitrogen solutions that are not on the RAV list, but do have approvals. “The time for talking is over, we have to start doing things.”
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