Govt. wants to stop farm trick

Large farms with thousands of pigs have for years been able to use a legal ruse to circumvent environmental requirements when the farm grew large. By dividing the production cadastre into two, it has been possible to expand production outside the framework of environmental requirements. Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke calls it the “cadastral feint” that is now to be stopped with a bill that went to hearings on Wednesday. “Even though it is a single farm, by technically dividing the land register into two, it has been possible to double its environmental impact, number of pigs and odour nuisance for the neighbours,” he says.
     The ministry estimates that there are about ten such cases each year. It is the municipality that processes the applications, and the minister emphasises that it is not illegal today. “We are talking about a single farm with a total emission of, for example, nitrogen and odour nuisances, and it must also be treated as such and not differently just because you have divided the land register into different numbers. The ministry has not been able to quantify how much additional pollution the feint causes. /ritzau/