Intensive Dutch livestock farming causes €9 billion in health, climate damage per year

Intensive livestock farming in the Netherlands causes at least 9 billion euros in damage to health and the environment every year, according to calculations by economist Max van der Sleen for the environmental group Mobilization for the Environment (MOB). That makes the damage caused by livestock farming three times higher than its added value, which amounts to 3 billion euros according to figures from Wageningen Economic Research, Financieele Dagblad reports.

Van der Sleen’s damage calculation is half higher than the previous study. Six years ago, CE Delft concluded that Dutch livestock farming costs Dutch society 6 billion euros per year. According to the economist, the increase is due to new research providing more clarity on the damage caused by pathogenic particulate matter, acidifying ammonia from manure, and the climate effects of greenhouse gases from the agriculture sector.

The economist added that his conclusion of 9 billion euros in annual damages is a minimum. He only looked at the costs of damage caused by emissions into the air. So his figures don’t include damage caused by agricultural emissions into water, damage caused by the suppliers and processors in the agriculture chain, or delayed construction following the Council of State’s nitrogen ruling in 2019.

Van der Sleen and Johan Vollenbroek of MOB told FD that they discussed their findings with officials from the Ministry of Agriculture two months ago. According to them, the Ministry had no interest in their conclusion that the Netherlands would be prosperous without intensive livestock farming, even despite billions of euros in conversion costs.

A Ministry spokesperson told FD they couldn’t respond to Van der Sleen’s calculations, but it is “known that livestock farming in the Netherlands is also associated with negative effects.” The spokesperson added, "the agricultural sector also provides us with a lot, although there is no doubt that something has to change in the way of production.”

Mark Heijmans of the farmers’ umbrella organization LTO told FD there are two crucial “mistakes” in Van der Sleen’s analysis. “Food is a basic necessity of life. You cannot simply exchange the production of something so essential for the production of something else,” he said. “And how will the farmer benefit from the abolition of livestock farming? That is not clear from anything.”