Agrifood Brief: Do you hear the farmers sing?

 

Do you hear the farmers sing? Because there have been a lot of angry men (and women) taking to the streets recently.

Except, this time it’s not French peasants barricading the streets, as in Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, but Dutch De Ellendigen – closely followed by German Die Elenden.

So, what is going on?

It all started when Dutch farmers started protesting over the news that the government plans to restrict livestock numbers and fertiliser use in a bid to cut its carbon emissions.

Back in mid-June, the Dutch cabinet announced plans to slash nitrogen emissions by 50% – rising to 70% in some areas – by 2030 as per EU regulations on nitrate pollution which, in practice, would force many livestock farms either to downsize or close altogether.

The news has predictably gone down like a sack of (ahem) manure with Dutch farmers, who took to the streets in their thousands, blockading ports, airports and roads with the ever-versatile symbol of resistance, the humble tractor, and torching straw bales in the streets. (...)