Over the past few months, thousands of Dutch farmers have blocked highways and staged protests. Hundreds have been arrested, and one was even shot at by a police officer. Dutch farmers have been protesting in the streets on and off since 2019.
Why are the farmers so outraged? They’re fighting for nothing less than the survival of modern agriculture as such. In the name of “sustainability” and fighting “pollution,” Green activists are trying to do to agriculture what they have been doing to the power grid and the oil and gas industry. In the name of highly questionable environmental goals, Green activists want to destroy the ability of farms to produce high-quality, abundant, clean, and inexpensive food.
Although the Netherlands has a population of 17 million and is only slightly larger than the U.S. state of Maryland, it is the second-largest agricultural exporter in the world after the United States. Dutch farms produce enormous quantities of beef, pork, dairy products and many other agricultural goods that are sold all over Europe and the world. The Dutch can produce so much food in such a small country thanks to the application of technology to farming methods. Dutch farms are perhaps the most advanced in the world. Thanks to the latest technology, Dutch food is not only plentiful but also inexpensive, efficient, and clean without sacrificing quality.
Green activists claim that this agriculture produces too much pollution and thus must be drastically reduced. At the behest of the European Union and Green groups, the Dutch government is imposing a plan to reduce nitrogen oxide and ammonia pollution by 50% by 2030. If carried out, this draconian plan would force Dutch farmers to reduce their herds by one-third and reduce their use of fertilizer. Many farms would be forced to close, and the cost of food would undoubtedly rise.
The radical Green movement has been waging war on modern agriculture for years. Claiming that farming practices are “unsustainable,” it wants to eliminate the use of fertilizers, pesticides, and technology, which would eliminate the massive gains in productivity and efficiency achieved over the past century.
If anyone doubts these radical Green goals, look no farther than Sri Lanka. The country’s economy collapsed, resulting in food shortages and mass unemployment. A leading cause (though not the only one) of this meltdown was the radical Green policies of former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa. In April 2021, he banned the importation of chemical fertilizers used by 90% of the country's farms and forced farmers to revert to "organic" methods.
The effects were swift. One-third of Sri Lanka's farms went dormant, and 85% of farmers suffered crop losses. Rice production fell 20%, while its price rose 50%. Sri Lanka was forced to import rice from a market in which it had previously been self-sufficient. Tea production, a cash crop for Sri Lanka, fell 18%. Inflation skyrocketed, food became scarce, and many small farmers were ruined.
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There is much more.
I live in the country and there are many cattle ranches nearby. I do not sense any harm to the environment from them. In fact, they are pretty scenic for the most part.
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