Ammonia: The Case of the Netherlands

"In The Netherlands an intense growth in animal husbandry has taken place during the past decades. This growth induced major shifts in the national nitrogen and ammonia balance, with feedstuff being imported from abroad and animal waste being used in excess in Dutch agricultural areas. Growing environmental responsibility, which was triggered by scientific observations on field-scale early-on, resulted in putting animal waste and ammonia on the political agenda. Governmental regulations were put in effect and research programs were set-up to develop techniques to measure and reduce ammonia emissions based on a scientific approach. Meanwhile, an inventory was made of the size of the animal waste problem. Additionally, the impacts on the environment were studied, as well as technical solutions to minimize the animal waste production were developed. This book aims to provide a full overview of all ammonia emission related aspects of animal husbandry in the Netherlands. Besides the background information as described above, it includes a technical and practical inventory of emission sources from cattle, pig, and poultry housings, followed by a listing of government approved housing systems and manure application techniques that have been measured according to standard protocols to quantify the on-farm decrease of ammonia emissions. For both traditional and low emission systems a list of emission factors is included. By presenting common practices in the Netherlands, this book also informs other EU countries about our ongoing insights regarding Dutch regulations, measurement protocols, abatement techniques and interpretation of measured farm-scale data to national emission values. In this way it will contribute to directing the development of livestock production throughout the EU member states towards a healthy and more sustainable future."