The Committee on Agriculture of the European Parliament has voted against proposals to put a permitting system in place for family farms under the EU Industrial Emissions Directive (IED). Earlier EU member states stated that the commission’s proposal will have to be changed that the directive extends to intensive livestock farms with higher LU numbers than 350LU for cattle. Last year the European Commission has proposed changes in the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) which will mean that farms with more than 150 livestock units (LUs) will need a special permit. One dairy cow is one LU, one heifer is 0.8 LU, a calve under one year old is 0.4 LU.