says The environmental movement is important, working group for peasant agriculture: The Ministry draft also stations that do not überdüngen.

nitrate from manure is potentially harmful to health and pollute groundwater photo: Uli Deck/dpa

BERLIN taz | The ecologically-oriented farmers ' organization Arbeitsgemeinschaft bäuerliche Landwirtschaft (AbL) rejects the planned Reform of the fertiliser order. The draft of the Federal government would also courtyards damage, do not pollute the environment with too much fertilizer, criticized the Association on Thursday. The voice of the OJ has been in the environmental movement in agricultural matters great weight.

nitrate from manure is potentially harmful and contaminated the ground water from which most drinking water is obtained. In addition, too much fertilizer to the extinction of plants and animals contributes to the species as well as climate change. Germany has a high monetary penalty, the EU is threatening, because the nitrate limits will always be exceeded again. Therefore, the Federal government plans to limit the application of fertilizer, especially in particularly polluted areas stronger. Finally, most of the nitrate come from, according to the experts from the agriculture.

Even the OJ looks after its own information, "urgent need for action to improve the protection of water bodies against entries, in particular from agricultural sources in many Places." But it requires, to prosecute the true perpetrators. The present draft of the fertilizer Ordinance will not meet.

"What is the fertilizer leeches must comply with an operation that depends on whether the inside or outside of "red", loaded areas of running, and not of its individual nutrient supply", - stated in a recent opinion of the OJ. Especially in the red areas, all establishments to be taken in the "joint liability" – other than risk businesses, such as those with very many animals on a very small area in the "green areas".

In the present design are included from the point of view of the OJ also some regulations that can be counterproductive. This applies, among other things, for the immediate withdrawal of the possibility of organic fertilizers, such as manure, to shallow frozen soils to apply, the thawing in the daytime and receptive. If soils are frozen, do not seeps into the slurry, but can be washed by rain into water bodies.

Martin Hofstetter, agricultural expert from Greenpeace, said the criticism that courts, not überdüngen, would suffer under the proposed regulation. "But what is the Alternative? We can't wait another half a year,“ said the environmentalist of the taz. The Eutrophication is simply too high, the criminal proceedings in the EU against Germany is too far advanced.

Only the 'polluter pays', the state could meet Hofstetter, according to a meaningful "farm gate balance", in which farmers hold on to as much of the nutrients in the operating flow and the number of in the Form of products flow. The records to which the farmers are currently required, would not to contain a lot of deductions that correspond to reality. "At the present plight of the profession is itself to blame," added Hofstetter. Not the OJ, but, for example, the Bavarian farmers ' Association had prevented a real farm gate balance.

With its opinion, the OJ approaches the German farmers ' Association, which represents the majority of farmers. "In the future, the water protection has to be targeted where there actually is a need for action", called for the organization on Thursday. Your recipe is a farm gate balance, but the Association wants that the red areas are smaller pulled.