The Fertilizer Act has been passed in the Danish Parliament. It is a difficult day for Danish agriculture, says Chairman Søren Søndergaard.
The Danish Parliament has voted through the Fertilization Act L5. This means that new regulations will start as early as January 1, in the middle of the current growing season. It is a regulation whose scientific basis and full consequences are still unknown.
– It is a difficult day for Danish agriculture. The Folketing is now taking a big step towards making it more difficult and expensive to produce food in Denmark. Despite our strong warnings, says Chairman of the Danish Food and Agriculture Association, Søren Søndergaard.
He is receiving many messages from all over Denmark during these hours:
– Messages and calls are pouring in from deeply concerned farmers and companies. It makes a big impression. But it is also pouring in with support from organizations and politicians who have really opened their eyes to what is at stake. That is of course also impressive, he says.
Søren Søndergaard therefore has a clear call to politicians after the adoption of L5:
– There is a movement underway. Not least in rural areas. And the fight is neither given up nor over with the adoption of L5. Because I know that some of you – also in the conciliation circle – want strong Danish food production. Now the next half begins. Because some of the breaches of the assumptions that you have exposed the original green tripartite party to can and must still be fixed in the unfolding of this mess. The alternative is not going to be bearable, and that is your sole responsibility.
He also emphasizes that farmers, like everyone else, of course want a better water environment:
– We all share the ambition of a good aquatic environment and rich nature. I am really tired of hearing claims that it is otherwise. But no one loves a fallow field, because it is neither good nature nor a contribution to food production. No one wins with centralized management from desks in Copenhagen, because local solutions are needed that are adapted to each individual watershed. And no one wins if you sacrifice the local green tree parts on the altar of symbolic politics in a misguided attempt to do something good for the aquatic environment, says Søren Søndergaard and concludes:
– We keep fighting. Despite the fact that it’s a very steep uphill climb. Because that’s who we are.
