In several provinces, mega stalls have become the hot item in the latest round of provincial council elections. The Dutch Lower House has passed a motion for a moratorium on the building of mega stalls. No more enormous animal stalls, for the time being at least. It is a political statement that will win in the popularity stakes, but does nothing to address the crux of the problem.
A lot of people are concerned about mega stalls, i.e. concerned about animal welfare, risks to public health and the adverse effects on nature and the environment. This is borne out by an opinion poll conducted by market research agency TNS-NIPO and commissioned by the Dutch environmental movement, and by more than 100 professors who endorsed the Sustainable Livestock Farming petition. But we must ensure that the focus of the debate does not turn to the size of the farming concerns, because this is merely a side-issue. Various provincial authorities have used this issue as a reason for tightening the rules on building mega stalls by restricting the so-called flats and banning multi-floored stalls and new farming businesses. But this approach will not take us any closer to sustainable livestock farming.
The current measures will not stop farming concerns from scaling up. Farms will continue to expand, on the available locations. Existing problems will remain unsolved and we will keep ‘smearing’ them across the entire rural area. It is time we realised that a move towards sustainable livestock farming requires more physical space: more room for keeping animals, not only in the interests of animal welfare, but also in the interests of proper rural landscape development. Not just a public green strip, but proper land development with space for a sturdy structure of green and blue elements. The government laying down statutory sizes for flats for housing livestock will only frustrate this process and certainly does little to improve the spatial quality of rural areas. The current flats will be built right down to the very last metre, making it impossible to develop land in any other way. The animals will be crammed into flats. This is bad for the animals, and bad for humans. Examples galore from rural areas.
What is important is to create a spatial vision regarding ‘new’ livestock farming in the Netherlands. The nature and extent of livestock farming must correspond with the available space. Good spatial positioning can diminish the veterinary and health risks, reduce the pressure on nature and the environment and improve the spatial quality of rural areas. Spatial planning instruments should be used to stimulate rather than frustrate sustainable livestock farming. The ‘flat policy’ must be discarded. We must not set restrictions for the size and number of flats that may be built, but give farming concerns the (physical) room to expand, while setting clear criteria governing the quality of any expansion. The agreed size of a proposed stall (or flat) should be the result of a proper economic business plan in combination with a sound spatial-landscape development plan. The 'Nije Pleats' method in Friesland is a prime example of how farmers and experts can organise this together. It is certainly possible, even if this example is totally at odds with the present planning regime.
Edo Gies, rural dynamics researcher at Alterra