At the beginning of the marathon of proceedings over the protection of groundwater in Bavaria from too much manure and artificial fertilizer from agriculture, the presiding judge at the Bavarian Administrative Court (VGH), Renate Köhler-Rott, made it clear that the outcome of the dispute is open. “The opinion-forming process in the Senate has not yet been completed,” she said on Thursday. Both sides have plausible arguments. There are 66 cases from more than 1,000 farmers pending at the VGH. Four will be heard in test cases until February 22nd. Then the VGH makes its decision.
After years of struggle to protect groundwater, the federal and state governments agreed with the EU Commission on red areas and strict fertilizer requirements for the farmers there. At the center of the dispute was nitrate. The substance is important for crops to thrive, but in high concentrations it harms flora and fauna and is even suspected of causing cancer. For drinking water, a limit value of 50 milligrams of nitrate per liter applies; from a level of 37 milligrams per liter, the member states must take precautions against further pollution of the groundwater if it is to be used as drinking water – by enacting red areas with strict requirements for fertilization . The most important thing is that farmers are only allowed to spread 80 percent of the calculated nutrient requirements of their fruits in the form of manure or artificial fertilizer. In Bavaria, 85 percent of drinking water is groundwater, 17 percent of agricultural land is in red areas.
On Thursday, two lawsuits from farmers from Middle and Lower Franconia were brought before the VGH. Their lawyers criticize the measuring points and the demarcation of the red areas. The farmers’ freedom of property and occupation would be violated and they would suffer a loss of income. Huge arable areas also fall under the requirements as soon as 20 percent are in a red area. The administration is making it too easy for itself, said a lawyer. The presiding judge Köhler-Knott called the 20 percent criterion a central point: “When we read that, we also thought that wouldn’t work.”