322 Brabant farmers have already registered for a purchase scheme from the national government. Farmers who do not load during peak times had until December 1 to register. Livestock farmers who are among peak loaders still have until April 4.
This is the current situation:
- As of July 1, 84 farmers have registered for the Lbv-plus programme. This scheme is for the 3,000 companies where most of the nitrogen ends up in vulnerable nature: so-called peak lifters. You can register until April 4.
- 139 livestock farmers from Brabant have signed up to the Lbv scheme for off-peak users. Registration for this is now closed.
- 99 ranchers registered, but did not choose between the two plans.
This brings the number of registrations in Brabant to 322. In September last year there were only 106. At the national level, there are 1,255 registrations.
Ultimately, the Dutch Enterprise Agency (RVO) decides which scheme the farmer is eligible for. The farmer is just estimating.
Half of them are pig farmers
Half of all registrations come from pig farmers. This is not surprising, if you know that Brabant has the highest number of pigs per square kilometer in Europe. There are two pigs for every Brabander: 2.5 million compared to 5.2 million, according to Statistics Netherlands.
The poultry and dairy sectors account for about 20 percent of registrations. The remainder comes from veal farmers (3 percent) and farmers with multiple animal species (5 percent).
Help from experts
Stopping their business is not an easy option for many farmers. That's why the province has formed a team of experts to help farmers make their choice. This team began work in July 2023 and has so far received 133 requests for an introductory meeting.
Furthermore, ranchers who sign up for the buyout plan are not obligated to stop. They can still change their mind and choose to continue their business.
Lbv and Lbv-plus are temporary schemes. According to Nature and Nitrogen Minister Van der Waals, farmers will never get a better offer then. The goal of the capture plans is to reduce nitrogen emissions so that vulnerable nature can recover. These nature reserves are not currently in good condition.
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