Production ceiling (nitrogen and phosphate)

The Netherlands must adhere to the ceiling imposed on animal manure production as part of the Nitrates Directive. That ceiling is 170 kilograms nitrogen per hectare. The Netherlands may exceed this ceiling under certain conditions (derogation). The conditions under which derogation is granted were tightened further in 2023 and in 2024.

One condition for derogation is that the excretion of phosphate in livestock manure in the Netherlands must not exceed 150.7 million kilograms as of 1 January 2022. The maximum level for nitrogen excretion is set at 489.4 million kilograms. In the 30 September 2022 derogation decision, The production ceilings were set by the European Commission as equal to the production of livestock in the Netherlands in 2020.

With effect from 2023, that derogation is being phased out, and from 2026 the Netherlands will no longer be granted any derogation. In 2025, the production ceilings will be reduced to 440 million kilograms of nitrogen and 135 million kilograms of phosphate. These values were determined by reducing manure production by 10 percent from the 2020 levels. In order to remain below future ceilings, nitrogen production as calculated for 2024 must fall by 2 percent and phosphate production by 8 percent.

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