Losing the nitrates derogation would cost the Dutch dairy sector €1bn, Dutch Dairy Organisation director Oscar Meuffels told those in attendance at Dairy Day last week.
He said the impact of losing the derogation from the Nitrates Directive was huge.
“We estimated at that time, I think three or four years ago, that it would be €1bn for the dairy sector in total. Therefore we stepped up the game and try to address that,” he said.
We need to be comfortable, we need to calm down, we need to be assured
He said there were several developments when it came to environmental issues in the Netherlands: the scale of dairying, the size of the country and the pressure on land use, which put pressure on the derogation.
“I think at an early stage we acknowledged that environmental issues would have a big impact on the discussions and on the position of the dairy sector,” he said, adding that seven years ago the country came up with a programme to address the challenges.
“We had these discussions with government, but also with NGOs on local specific challenges on the environmental issues, and we more or less designed the programme over the last eight years to address this, but unfortunately [reality has caught up]”, in terms of climate change and animal welfare.
Oscar Meuffels, director of the Dutch Dairy Organisation. \Claire Jeanne Nash
Space for dairying and farm numbers
He said they are now more or less at stage for the coming five to 10 years where they need to address what “environmental space” they can give to dairying in the Netherlands without running into problems either with this issue or the next issue.
“We need to be comfortable, we need to calm down, we need to be assured,” he said.
Meuffels said dairy farmer numbers were decreasing rapidly, especially in the last three years.
“I think thousand a year, which is immense. There are predictions by Rabobank that in 2030, we will be around 10,000 dairy farmers. So that’s a huge impact.”
He said there are multiple reasons for the drop in dairy farmer numbers.
“I think it’s financial, it’s the environmental issues. It’s also [because] we want to have more land available for dairy farming to make it less intensive. But on the other end in the Netherlands, it is quite expensive for every square metre [of land]. You have seven industries fighting for the use of that land, for recreational, for industry or for agriculture - everybody is fighting for the square metre.
“So the prices are extremely high. And that was a quite a big financial burden on dairy farming,” he said.
Read more
CalfCare events to focus on dealing with increasing numbers
Scale does not drive profit in dairying
Dairy ingredients industry under threat
Losing the nitrates derogation would cost the Dutch dairy sector €1bn, Dutch Dairy Organisation director Oscar Meuffels told those in attendance at Dairy Day last week.
He said the impact of losing the derogation from the Nitrates Directive was huge.
“We estimated at that time, I think three or four years ago, that it would be €1bn for the dairy sector in total. Therefore we stepped up the game and try to address that,” he said.
We need to be comfortable, we need to calm down, we need to be assured
He said there were several developments when it came to environmental issues in the Netherlands: the scale of dairying, the size of the country and the pressure on land use, which put pressure on the derogation.
“I think at an early stage we acknowledged that environmental issues would have a big impact on the discussions and on the position of the dairy sector,” he said, adding that seven years ago the country came up with a programme to address the challenges.
“We had these discussions with government, but also with NGOs on local specific challenges on the environmental issues, and we more or less designed the programme over the last eight years to address this, but unfortunately [reality has caught up]”, in terms of climate change and animal welfare.
Oscar Meuffels, director of the Dutch Dairy Organisation. \Claire Jeanne Nash
Space for dairying and farm numbers
He said they are now more or less at stage for the coming five to 10 years where they need to address what “environmental space” they can give to dairying in the Netherlands without running into problems either with this issue or the next issue.
“We need to be comfortable, we need to calm down, we need to be assured,” he said.
Meuffels said dairy farmer numbers were decreasing rapidly, especially in the last three years.
“I think thousand a year, which is immense. There are predictions by Rabobank that in 2030, we will be around 10,000 dairy farmers. So that’s a huge impact.”
He said there are multiple reasons for the drop in dairy farmer numbers.
“I think it’s financial, it’s the environmental issues. It’s also [because] we want to have more land available for dairy farming to make it less intensive. But on the other end in the Netherlands, it is quite expensive for every square metre [of land]. You have seven industries fighting for the use of that land, for recreational, for industry or for agriculture - everybody is fighting for the square metre.
“So the prices are extremely high. And that was a quite a big financial burden on dairy farming,” he said.
Read more
CalfCare events to focus on dealing with increasing numbers
Scale does not drive profit in dairying
Dairy ingredients industry under threat
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