Nearly 1,700 livestock farmers want to be bought out because of nitrogen

Nearly 1,700 livestock farmers have registered for the various voluntary buyout schemes, which were created to reduce nitrogen emissions. The Ministry of Agriculture announced this. The deadline for the last two schemes closed last Friday.

The scheme for peak loaders in particular attracted a relatively large number of registrations: 920. Peak loaders are companies that emit a lot of nitrogen in or near nature reserves. They could be bought out for 120 percent of the value of their company. The deadline for their arrangement was actually in April, but it was eventually extended.

Other farmers could receive up to 100 percent of the value of their farm. This broader scheme, for which a total of 665 applications were received, closed on December 1 last year.

Last Friday was also the deadline for smaller sectors, for which 104 entrepreneurs have registered. There are more registrations for this scheme than the budget available, according to the ministry. It is still being examined whether additional money can be made available for this.

The total number of applications does not yet provide certainty about the number of livestock farmers who will stop their business. The application is first processed by the ministry and not all applications have been examined at this time.

To date, 1,442 entrepreneurs have received approval for the subsidy. 916 entrepreneurs signed and returned that agreement.