Financiële prikkels in de landbouw voor verbetering van de waterkwaliteit

While many instruments have already been implemented in various chains in order to limit the emission of pollutants into water, only a fraction of the existing instruments are economic in nature, and very few are geared towards the ‘polluter pays’ principle (as applied in this study). Despite this, agriculture and horticulture in general, and certain sectors in particular, incur expenses in their limiting of noxious substances. There is nevertheless potential to utilize new instruments in order to give further effect to the ‘polluter pays’ principle. These instruments could be most effectively implemented on a company level and/or during the removal of pollutants. New instruments must not be introduced in isolation; instead, an optimum mix must be created in conjunction with other instruments, both existing and new. Further research ought to shed light on the compatibility of proposed instruments within existing policy frameworks as well as in which areas there is a need for entirely new instruments to be developed.