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Animal manure

This information is provided by:Netherlands Enterprise Agency, RVONetherlands Enterprise Agency, RVONederlandse versie

Are you an entrepreneur in the agricultural, horticultural, or livestock sectors in the Netherlands? You must comply with the rules on animal manure. These rules cover:

  • usage capacity and usage standards (in Dutch): the amounts of nitrogen and phosphate from all animal manure that you may use
  • the use and spreading of animal manure: the way in which you use the manure and the spreading periods (in Dutch) in which you are allowed to do so
  • import, export (in Dutch), and storage of animal manure: the conditions for transporting and storing it (in Dutch)
  • animal manure production: the production may not exceed the available land area for animal manure application, unless a surplus is handled through regular contracts with other farms. You can conclude an agreement with a manure processor (in Dutch) or similar party for the processing or recycling of any surplus still left.

Sampling solid manure

Transportation companies are not allowed to take their own samples from thick fraction (solid manure). This can only be done by independent samplers belonging to an organisation accredited (in Dutch) by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO).

Expanding a dairy farm

If you wish to expand your dairy farm, you must compensate for the increase in animal manure production. You do so either by providing extra spreading capacity (land), complete processing, or a combination of both. On the website of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, you can calculate your usage standard and actual usage (in Dutch).

Registering land use

Entrepreneurs in the agricultural, horticultural, and livestock sectors in the Netherlands have to register their land use with the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (in Dutch), among others with regard to the spreading of manure. Registration concerns surface area, planted crops, location and position, and any changes in these aspects.

Labelling animal manure

Manufacturers of fertilisers must comply with the labelling regulations, which are listed in the Fertilisers Implementation Decree (Uitvoeringsbesluit Meststoffen, in Dutch).

Online application procedure via Message Box

In the province of Noord-Brabant you can use Message Box to apply digitally for an exemption on the ban on spreading organic fertiliser. Message Box is a secure email system that enables you as an entrepreneur to exchange digital messages with Dutch government agencies.

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