New fertilizer law fails in the Bundesrat - criticism of bureaucracy
In the material balance or nutrient balance, it is about listing the intake and output of nutrients on agriculturally used areas. More companies are supposed to keep records according to the new rules, of how many nutrients are taken away from the soil through farming and how many are supplied to it through fertilizers, in order to implement the polluter principle in nitrate contamination.
The Bundestag had already passed the new fertilizer law at the beginning of June. It was supposed to have been completed in the previous year. With the law, EU regulations are to be implemented, as Germany is obligated to reduce the high nitrate contamination in its waters. Nitrate mainly enters the groundwater through fertilizers. With the new fertilizer law, fines from Brussels are to be avoided.
Brandenburg's Minister-President Dietmar Woidke (SPD) had already announced at the German Farmers' Day that his land would not agree to it. He is in line with the German Farmers' Association, which rejects the new fertilizer regulations as a "bureaucratic monster". Woidke spoke again in the Bundesrat about a "senseless build-up of bureaucracy".
Hessen's government head Boris Rhein (CDU) made it clear in the debate that his land would not agree. He spoke of an "unvaluable list for environmental protection and water protection". Similarly, Baden-Württemberg's Agriculture Minister Peter Hauk (CDU) expressed himself.
Sharp criticism came from the German Environmental Aid (DUH) - the goal of the law is mainly to find out how future fertilization can be more sustainable and efficient. It is a "scandal that the Bundesrat today rejected the overdue, comprehensive amendment of the fertilizer law proposed by the federal government", the DUH stated. Therefore, the "urgently necessary obligation to material flow balance, to transparently depict nutrient streams" as well as strict effectiveness monitoring of substance inputs were missing.
- Under the new fertilizer law, Farm companies in Germany will now be required to track the withdrawal and addition of nutrients from the soil through farming and fertilizers, respectively, to comply with the polluter principle in nitrate contamination.
- Despite the EU's push for implementing the new fertilizer law to reduce nitrate contamination in German waters, Brandenburg's Minister-President Dietmar Woidke and the German Farmers' Association have expressed criticism, labeling it as a "bureaucratic monster."
- In response to the new fertilizer law, the CDU-led governments of Hessen and Baden-Württemberg have also voiced opposition, with Hessen's Boris Rhein referring to it as an "unvaluable list for environmental protection and water protection."
- The German Environmental Aid (DUH) has levied sharp criticism against the Bundesrat's rejection of the comprehensive amendment to the fertilizer law, stating it's a scandal that the necessary obligation to material flow balance, transparent nutrient stream depiction, and strict effectiveness monitoring of substance inputs are missing from the law.
- The controversial EU-backed Fertilizer law, facing criticism from various German political figures and environmental organizations, is intended to make future fertilization practices more sustainable and efficient, but it remains unclear if and how these concerns will be addressed.
