The Dutch government's plans to fight climate change by slashing the country's livestock population continues to meet with resistance from Netherlands farners,
Rebel Farmers Are Pushing Back on Climate Action. This is Why | Bloomberg - ByApril Roach, Tracy Withers, Jen Skerritt, Agnieszka de Sousa:
December 8, 2022 - "Bart Kooijman raises 120 cows on 50 hectares in western Holland. If authorities push ahead with plans to halve nitrogen emissions from agriculture by 2030, his could be among thousands of farms that will have to shrink or close. In an attempt to quell a summer of fury, which saw farmers setting hay bales ablaze and dumping manure on motorways, the government said in November it would buy out as many as 3,000 of the biggest emitters in a voluntary one-time offer, setting aside €24.3 billion ($25.6 billion) to fund the transition. Those who refuse will be forced out of business. 'We don’t want to make fires or block roads but if we do nothing, it’s over,' says Kooijman, a father of two. 'We’ll just get kicked off the land'....
"[A]griculture is ... a major climate offender. From farm to fork, the food system generates about 31% of global greenhouse gas emissions.... Agricultural emissions rose 14% between 2000 and 2018, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. If action isn’t taken fast, researchers estimate that food-related emissions alone would push the Earth past 1.5C of warming that world leaders set as a target in the 2015 Paris Agreement. So after focusing for years on fossil fuels, policymakers are beginning to target farming too....
"Politically, however, agriculture could prove trickier to tackle than sectors like mining, energy or cars, which are dominated by a small number of big, corporate players. Farmers are a force of millions, some with small holdings that have been in families for generations, giving them an attachment to land — and occupation — that runs deeper than profit.
"Soaring food, fuel and fertilizer prices are already spurring public discontent. Polish and Greek farmers drove tractors to their capitals to voice grievances earlier this year and protests in solidarity with Dutch farmers erupted across Europe. Farmer protests have surged around the globe — in Europe they’re up 30% from 2021 — and are expected to gain momentum in the coming months and years, driven by inflation, drought and tightening environmental regulation, according to a tracker produced by political risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft.
"Agriculture is a major export sector for many countries, but food is also a basic human need, and what we eat is often engrained in our heritage and sense of identity. It’s a more politically charged issue than many. That’s why the Dutch standoff has struck an international cord, catapulting farmers to the center of a global culture war that’s seen them demonized by activists advocating vegan lifestyles and lionized by right-wing groups opposed to government regulations on everything from Covid to climate....
"On Twitter, activists using the hashtag #NoFarmersNoFood have tapped a primordial fear — that imposing environmental safeguards means the world won’t produce enough food for a growing population. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has already exacerbated worries over food insecurity by pushing up the price of grains and fertilizers. Farmers have picked up the refrain, warning that climate-related regulation will mean not only less food but higher prices in the supermarket for consumers already grappling with the worst inflation in decades.
"The debate has exacerbated the disconnect between rural and urban dwellers, stretching an old political divide into a cultural chasm.... Farmers are 'ordinary people but they feel treated like criminals. Everything farmers do is bad; poison sprayers, environmental polluters, mistreatment of animals,' says Caroline van der Plas, leader of the populist Farmer-Citizen Movement, which stormed onto the Dutch political scene in 2019. 'They feel undervalued and have no space to expand or develop their business and are very worried about their future.'"
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