Farmers do not know where to sprinkle manure near ditches because the maps of Dutch ditches are wrong. Agriculture Minister Adema describes this as a difficult problem.
“Many farmers have told us that there are differences between our digital system and reality,” Adema says. “You can’t be a victim of this.” For now, in case of doubt, farmers should determine for themselves which fertilizer rule their trenches are subject to and report this.
Maps with ditches are important because the Netherlands needs to introduce stricter fertilizer regulations this year to make nature and surface waters cleaner. Adema hoped this wouldn’t happen before 2024, but the European Commission canceled it. It should be March 1st now.
EU Commissioner Sinkevicius made it clear that the Netherlands really needs to stick to the agreements, otherwise the Netherlands will completely lose their so-called exemption flexible fertilizer agreements.
water-bearing ditches
One of the agreements that went into effect this year is that liquid fertilizer should not be sprinkled in buffer zones along water-bearing ditches.
These ditches have lateral buffer zones of 3 to 5 meters through which water flows, which can carry fertilizers and pesticides. A buffer zone of one metre, for example, only applies to dry trenches where excess rainwater is collected.
Many dry ditches are marked as water ditches on the map of the RVO office responsible for it. Farmers sued for losing meters of land to apply fertilizer and grow.
Also, inaccuracy of key maps can have a detrimental effect on nature. D66 and GroenLinks fear, among other things, that farmers are increasingly digging ditches to get rid of large buffer zones.
Parliamentary questions were asked about a recent survey in which two-thirds of farmers said they wanted to fill in ditches to drop more fertilizer.
Officially, filling pools must be requested from water boards, but tracking is difficult with confusing maps. Minister Adema says the RVO will control this, but given the large number of locks in the Netherlands it is not clear how this will work in practice.
Adema: “But filling is out of the question. We need ditches for our water storage and drainage, and these are important elements for our landscape.”
Source: NOS
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
