Feed & Additive Magazine Issue 47 December 2024

ARTICLE FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE December 2024 7 efficiently. The fact that officials at the Ministry of Agriculture support this idea gives us hope that the feed sector can continue to contribute to climate goals. But it is also unacceptable that the entire responsibility for this process, which imposes additional costs on farmers, is placed on the agriculture sector. Politicians have been saying for years that money is not everything. “We should take care of future generations, we have to look after the environment and nature,” they say. And they are right when, indeed, environment and nature are separate from farming. But in the opinion of the feed sector, and my personal opinion, farmers are a part of nature and the environment. So of course, farmers have to contribute to achieving goals in this area too. But it is not realistic to put all the burden on them. This could lead to the destruction of your agri-food complex. WHO WILL PAY FOR THE COST OF NEW DEMANDS? Another issue is the expectations for animal welfare. There are different ways of approaching this issue. First of all, anything we do in feed and everything we change has possibly a high-cost impact. So, the big question is: if we produce feed in the future with a higher cost, how is the farm going to pay for it? This is a big and interesting issue because we also talk about chain initiatives in the market. For example, if you want to buy the meat of animals that have been fed with regional raw materials or soy-free feed, or if you want to buy free-range chicken eggs, you have to be aware that this will have a higher climate impact. The more space you give to the chicken, the higher the climate impact. So how do we deal with that? When you have a higher cost, who is going to pay for it? The only thing we can think of is if there is a demand from the market, someone has to pay for it and that’s the consumer. The feed sector, farmers, the processing industry, retailers… In short, every partner in this production chain wants to make money because they are all enterprises. The farmer is often left with the bill for this whole process. The farmer has to deal with lower income and higher costs. This is a really big problem. And I think with all our efforts on feed, we have to find a solution to that. Because if you don’t have many healthy farms in Europe, you can’t say you have a healthy feed sector. And if you want a healthy feed sector or a healthy ‘agri-food complex’ in the Netherlands, you need a critical number of companies. And of course, these companies need a certain amount of money to run their business. Fortunately, the new European Commission is no longer just focusing on climate change and environmental impact. It is also setting goals, naming them and giving instruments to achieve them. So that both markets and society can take time to find the solutions that are needed. I think this will be our new agenda for the coming period.

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