Less Livestock in North-western Europe? Discourses and Drivers Behind Livestock Buyout Policies
Moins de bétail dans le nord-ouest de l'Europe ? Discours et facteurs influençant les politiques de rachat de bétail
Geringere Viehbestände in Nordwesteuropa? Diskussionen und Beweggründe für staatliche Aufkaufprogramme von Vieh
Daan Boezeman, David de Pue, Morten Graversgaard, Stefan Möckel
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Direct intervention in the size of livestock numbers is not considered a main option in European agri-environmental policies nor in policy studies. Nevertheless, the governments of the Netherlands and Flanders (Belgium) have announced livestock buyout schemes. This article contributes to the scarce literature on this policy instrument by sketching the characteristics of different types of buyout schemes. We analyse how the issue of reducing livestock numbers is being framed in four EU Member States with high livestock dense regions: the Netherlands, Belgium (Flanders), Denmark and Germany. While the debate on ‘technology versus volume’ can be observed in all four countries, the ‘nitrogen crises’ in the first two has led to a reframing of concerns over livestock numbers in relation to place-based deterioration of habitats and the possibility of granting permits for new economic activities, rather than as a global issue of mitigating climate change. Pre-existing institutional frameworks influence the introduction and design of new buyout policies. In the context of high political pressure, existing policies to close down farms were reinforced and nutrient emission rights systems offered the opportunity to take production rights out of the market. Notwithstanding the policies and available budgets, the issue of direct intervention to reduce livestock numbers remains controversial.
期刊介绍:
EuroChoices is a full colour, peer reviewed, outreach journal of topical European agri-food and rural resource issues, published three times a year in April, August and December. Its main aim is to bring current research and policy deliberations on agri-food and rural resource issues to a wide readership, both technical & non-technical. The need for this is clear - there are great changes afoot in the European and global agri-food industries and rural areas, which are of enormous impact and concern to society. The issues which underlie present deliberations in the policy and private sectors are complex and, until now, normally expressed in impenetrable technical language.