There are too many (poultry) farms in the Netherlands, even when all these businesses were to switch to more welfare-friendly systems. Just how many businesses are superfluous in Holland depends on the approach we take: environment and/or welfare. If the number of battery cage farms is reduced, while the chickens in the other farms gain only a few square centimeters extra, then this will hardly help the chickens in practice, because they will still not be able to exhibit natural behavior. Chickens can only do this when they are given enough space to move around, to go outside to take dust baths or to free-range and forage for food. It is important that they are not surrounded by too many of their own kind, because this causes stress to them.
If these requirements were to be met, this would have consequences for prices: either the consumer would have to pay more, or the poultry industry would become unattractive to farmers, especially for non-soil-bound farmers. On the other hand, taxes could then be lowered.
And that would solve the problem.

In the force field of the market: producer, consumer and government, none of these three parties is able to commit the poultry farmers to these demands. The government is slowly increasing environmental and welfare pressure, to create a ceiling for the size of this sector. With this, the government is serving the interests of the sector and of the environment, and indirectly also itself.
Some consumers are prepared to influence producers by buying free-range eggs. But what these consumers are only partly aware of is that this doesn't really help chickens. The large numbers of chickens held in free-range farms make the situation there unsatisfactory as well. Only the poultry farms that offer outside space to their chickens, the 'grass-eggs' and EKO-eggs meet the requirement that chickens should be able to exhibit natural behavior. But not all poultry farms in Holland have the option to operate like this. Too many farmers want to have a piece of the cake, without being willing to implement responsible environmental and welfare management. And tax-paying consumers support this system without getting enough in return.

The largest part of the meat and egg production in Holland disappears abroad. Instead of being proud of that, we should be ashamed of ourselves. The over-production is a consequence of the greed of farmers and consumers, who both want to get their eggs cheap, and in the process trampling the chickens. And the Dutch government is just as guilty, because it derives a source of income from export.
What should happen in Holland, is that the government admits that Holland has a lot less space for cattle farms than the cattle farmers think. It takes some political backbone, but it is the honest thing towards the farmers of the future: there should only be space for soil-bound farmers, who first and foremost have an eye for animal welfare, and who do not pollute the environment.

Unfortunately, the Dutch learn at their mother's knee that farm life is heroic and romantic, and they do not hesitate to make demands. The reality is that this over-subsidized sector has changed into a factory-like sector a long time ago, which should bear economical and environmental responsibilities. Some have trouble accepting this reality.
Maybe it helps to remind ourselves that the farms of old were characterized by the presence of only a few animals. It's not about quantity, but about quality of life: fewer production animals in Holland will help form a sector in which the remaining producers can have a better income, the environment is cleaner, and of which the rest of Holland can truly be proud. But we should stop subsidizing an unjust system.

Why Birds Don't Have Feathers: Candid Look at the Poultry and Egg Industry

by Karen Davis

Livestock, Ethics and Quality of Life

by J. Hodges (Editor), I.K. Han (Editor), I.K. Hann (Editor)