Dutch agriculture minister urges farm density curbs

Dutch agriculture minister Henk Bleker has proposed a curb on the number of animals that can be held on a single farm to avoid excessively large holdings in the country with the EU highest livestock density.

Limiting the number of animals would be part of measures to ensure a sustainable and socially acceptable livestock industry, the Netherlands’ ministry of economy, agriculture and innovation wrote on its website yesterday.

“In the Netherlands, there’s no room for extreme industrialisation of livestock holding,” said Mr Bleker. “I propose to set an upper limit for the number of animals per location.”