"Give livestock farmers that dot on the horizon"
Lessons from successful strategy to tackle excessive use of antibiotics
The livestock industry is under major pressure to change. Huge challenges lie ahead: nitrogen, water quality, biodiversity, sustainability, animal health and animal welfare. Professor Dick Heederik draws lessons from the successful strategy to tackle excessive use of antibiotics. "The government must set long-term targets and then put the responsibility on the industry."
"I have confidence in livestock farmers’ abilities," says Dick Heederik. "They are innovative entrepreneurs." We are sitting at the conference table in his office. He is happy there, in his department at the university, but he is just as happy at other organisations around the country. "As a scientist, it’s important to be an independent expert. Equally, I can’t draw conclusions from behind my desk. I’m good at analysing and interpreting data, but I don't know the context. It’s important to stay connected to the people in the industry, since they do know the context. I have to keep my ear to the ground, while at the same time remaining independent. I really enjoy striking the right balance in that regard."
We talk about the challenges in livestock farming, such as nitrogen, which Heederik is working on in the major Regio Deal Foodvalley project. According to Heederik, it makes sense to give the nearly 40,000 livestock farmers in the Netherlands more responsibility, as long as the government provides clarity around the dot on the horizon and doesn't just pluck it out of thin air. Over a decade ago, as chair of the expert panel of the Netherlands Veterinary Medicines Institute (SDa), Heederik helped find a solution to the biggest problem for Dutch livestock farmers at the time: excessive use of antibiotics. Since then, the use of antibiotics in livestock farming has been reduced by almost 80 per cent. A huge success. "The current situation is a lot more complex, but I still think we can learn lessons from the past."
The livestock farming transition is complex and risky
What is the most important lesson?
"The government sat down with the industry and set long-term targets. A 20 per cent reduction in the use of antibiotics within two years, 50 per cent within three years and 70 per cent within five years. In addition, the independent SDa has been established. The SDa is funded by the Ministry and the industry (livestock farmers and vets) and stands between them to monitor a joint approach. The SDa made the statistics on the use of antibiotics transparent and allowed livestock farmers and vets to compare themselves with their peers. The responsibility for action lay with the animal sectors. And it worked. Livestock farmers and vets are entrepreneurs; they wanted to take steps themselves with as little government interference as possible. They were able to manage long-term goals, they were innovative, they learned from each other, they understood the situation and they came up with technological developments." The process was a bit slower than the government wanted, but ultimately, the goals were achieved.
"This is the kind of approach we can adopt now, too. But the government must be absolutely clear about the ultimate objective. I am optimistic about farmers' capabilities, but we are presenting them with a significant challenge. There can’t be any doubt about what is being asked of them. It’s a bit like the automotive industry. The government set a target: from 2035 onwards, all new cars must be CO2 emissions free. Electric or hydrogen, but emissions must be reduced to zero. That’s clear."
The Minister is now also trying to reach agreements on livestock farming, but it hasn’t worked yet.
"A lot of time is being wasted. The government has collapsed, the provinces feel they have too much on their plates and, meanwhile, a lot of time has passed since the negotiations over the agriculture agreement. They’re trying to make everything in the nitrogen strategy legally watertight. I get that legal measures are ultimately important for farms that don’t reduce their emissions, but we shouldn’t start with that. It simply doesn’t work that way. Measuring nitrogen emissions on a farm-by-farm basis is difficult and expensive. It’s very different from antibiotics, since you can calculate that usage precisely. Eventually, things will work out for nitrogen too, but we mustn’t wait for that. If the government had set long-term goals and given farmers the scope to get to work to them, all kinds of things would have been set in motion by now."
No one can afford to rest on their laurels
What will these nitrogen measurements look like?
"With sensors, you can gain insights into a livestock farm’s emissions. This is not possible on all farms in the Netherlands, it’s expensive and, in technical terms, it’s a huge operation. Many things need to be measured: ammonia, temperature, humidity and CO2. To understand measures that reduce nitrogen emissions, farmers must record things that have an impact on emissions, such as feed, manure processing, floor cleaning and so on. The big question then is where to put all those data. Some people think it should be kept by the government or environmental services, because it relates to environmental legislation. I think it should be held in farmers' quality systems, although agreements are needed on the transparency of figures. The antibiotics strategy has shown that this can be done."
The challenges are enormous. Do you think things will work out?
"I’m quite worried about it. Farmers have a lot to deal with, the transition is complex and risky, and so much has to change at the same time. No one can afford to rest on their laurels. After the failed agriculture agreement, there is unease among livestock farmers about the policy. I am curious about the government's approach. Pretending the problems don’t exist and burying our heads in the sand may give farmers some short-term relief, but it won’t solve the problems. We have to solve them together; we don’t have a choice. I think we have to realise that this transition is going to take at least 10 to 15 years and that it can’t succeed without the knowledge of farmers and veterinarians."