Pig farmers in the Netherlands have been actively withdrawing pigs from pig farming over the last five years, and the population of pigs in the country has already fallen from around 900,000 to 670,000 sows.

The government is actively promoting the closure of these farms in the hope of reducing nitrogen emissions. In the last two years alone, the number of sows in the country has fallen by 100,000, with a further reduction of around 40,000 to 50,000 expected by 2025.

In 2024 alone, the number of pig farms will have fallen by 567, of which 552 barns have closed under the voluntary withdrawal scheme.

However, as many as 80% of current producers intend to continue farming.