How does the Netherlands relate to Germany in the nitrogen discussion?
Nitrogen has determined the public and political debate since last Friday, when the cabinet announced the new nitrogen policy. But where in the Netherlands angry farmers stand with the tractor in front of the minister’s private address, the nitrogen measures in neighboring Germany have not been an issue for decades.
Germany-correspondence Rob Savelberg saw angry farmers on tractors in Berlin last year, ‘but that mainly happened in a playful way around a ministry. The theme does not actually exist in Germany, it is not a political issue. It is located in the middle of the animal world, Germany is a very large country with a lot of nature and there you do not suffer as much from the problem as in the very densely populated region of the Netherlands. Only the densely populated centers and the capitals have problems with nitrogen’.
many times bigger
Nitrogen researcher Ronald Bobbink of the B-Ware research institute also agrees that Germany is ‘much bigger’ than the Netherlands. ‘In general, the nitrogen deposition is smaller than in the Netherlands, which has had the highest value in Europe since the end of the last century. There are a number of regions in Germany, in particular in Lower Saxony, where nitrogen deposition plays a significant role.
Although the Netherlands and Germany apply the same deposition values, it is a matter of national legislation when it comes to the standard in which the values are transferred. Not European. ‘In the Netherlands, the Council of State has said that nothing more can be added because it has been far too high for decades, and often much higher than in Germany. So in Germany something is allowed.’
Nitrogen deposition
According to Bobbink, the high nitrogen disposition in the Netherlands has played a role since the 1980s, when the Netherlands was struggling with acid rain. “Something has been done about that.” He therefore welcomes the legislation, although as far as he is concerned it should have been ten years ago.
Farmers complain that the Netherlands wants to be ‘the best boy in the class again’ with nitrogen legislation, but the nitrogen researcher makes short work of that. He mentions a non-argument. ‘A lot of nitrogen deposition in the Netherlands goes to Germany and the values and emissions are higher in the Netherlands than in Germany. Even if you express that per hectare.’