Europe’s Green Vision Finds Latest Foe in Dutch Farmers
By Lucy Papachristou, Aug. 5, 2022, WSJ
Dairy farmers have been protesting since June, when the Dutch govt presented plans to halve ammonia and nitrogen emissions by 2030. Livestock release the chemicals through their urine and feces.
Farmers’ advocates say the proposal threatens nearly all agriculture in the Netherlands—the world’s 2nd-largest exporter of agro goods by value after the U.S.—at a time of heightened global food insecurity sparked by Russia’s blockade of
Ukrainian grain exports.
Few countries are more exposed to effects of climate change than the Netherlands, where more than half of the population lives below sea level and so is at risk of flooding. But even in one of the world’s richest countries, voters and politicians are
opposing policies to cut emissions that scientists say are causing average temps to rise.
Across Europe, pushback has ranged from France’s yellow-vest movement started in 2018 to repeated attacks on European Union green policies from governments in Hungary and Poland. Fights, mainly between environmental advocates and business interests,
have repeatedly pitted rural citizens against city dwellers, roiling national politics.
PM Mark Rutte and advisers are meeting with Dutch farmers’ orgs on the issue for the first time Friday, a govt spokeswoman said. The meeting comes after a recent opinion poll indicated Rutte’s ruling center-right party has plunged in popularity.
The Dutch protests have drawn support from antiestablishment politicians including Trump and France’s Marine Le Pen, particularly after a Dutch police officer fired shots at protesters in early July, hitting a tractor. The public prosecutor’s office
has opened a criminal investigation against the officer for attempted manslaughter.
According to leaked Dutch govt estimates published by local media, roughly 11,200 livestock farms would have to close and 17,600 farmers would have to reduce their herds to meet the emissions targets. A finance ministry spokesman called the estimates “
calculations” and said the targets are still being adjusted.
“The government has been hiding the consequences of its policy,” said Pieter Omtzigt, an independent member of the Dutch parliament. “This is a total shake-up of the whole agricultural sector.”
Omtzigt said the policy is being rushed through “without looking at the consequences.” Mr. Rutte’s office didn’t respond to requests for comment. Timing of votes on the bill remains unclear.
Thousands of farmers across the Netherlands have demonstrated this summer by driving tractors plastered with signs along country roads and chanting slogans in town squares. In a recent poll, nearly two-thirds of the Dutch population said they understand
the farmers’ concerns.
Some protesters have escalated their actions, dumping manure on major highways and setting hay bales on fire. Police have reported multiple accidents after motorists hit the blockades.
Rutte in June criticized how farmers were protesting.
The proposed policy would slash nitrogen and ammonia emissions by 50% to protect an EU-wide network of nature areas called Natura 2000. The nature zone, much of it privately owned, covers 18% of the EU’s land and more than 8% of its marine territory,
offering refuge to threatened species and habitats. Natura 2000 includes roughly 7% of the Netherlands.
Dutch govt data show that nitrogen deposits exceed critical levels in designated nature areas, although they have decreased in recent decades.
“The task for agriculture in particular is huge,” said the govt’s announcement of the nitrogen-emissions policy.
The govt said it would allocate an additional $24.7 billion on top of an existing $7.1 billion to bring three-quarters of Natura 2000 areas to a “healthy level” by 2030.
Farmers, the govt said, have 3 options: “Becoming more sustainable, relocating or ending [their businesses].” The government is offering buyouts to farmers, but advocates say few have taken them.
Proposed nitrogen cuts range from 12% to 95% by region. Ms. Elshof’s farm, less than a mile from a Natura 2000 area, will have to reduce its nitrogen output by 70%.
“There is no way you can be a farmer with this policy,” said Sieta van Keimpema of the Farmers Defence Force, a leading organization of Dutch farmers. She said farmers “will lose everything as a result, and also be in a profession where you cannot
find work anymore.”
Jesse Klaver, the Dutch Green party chairman, said it is “inevitable that we will buy out farmers and that the livestock will decrease,” adding that manufacturing and aviation would also have to change.
The Dutch AG sector generated about 7% of GDP in 2019, according to the central bureau of stats. Roughly 52,000 Dutch agribusinesses employed more than 150,000 people in full-time jobs in 2020.
“The proposed policy will have disastrous effects on not just agriculture, but on the economic, social and cultural viability of rural Netherlands,” said Wytse Sonnema of LTO Netherlands, a national AG assn.
Farmers began protesting in late 2019, after a Dutch high court ruled that govt laws for granting construction permits and farming activities that emit large amounts of nitrogen violate EU legislation. Caravans of farmers drove tractors along major
highways to govt buildings in The Hague, flashing their lights in protest.
The protests resumed this summer after the emissions targets were released. One peaceful demonstration in a small village east of Amsterdam attracted about 15,000 attendees, Mr. Sonnema said.
Protests involving property destruction and roadblocks have drawn sharp criticism from the govt.
“Where possible, the police will track you down. A criminal record has consequences. Use your brain,” Justice Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius said on Twitter last month.
Ms. van Keimpema of the Farmers Defence Force called the escalation of tactics “a sign of outrage, but also the fear people have for the life they’re living.”
Leaders in the Dutch agri-tech sector say govt-supported innovation is necessary to help the farmers.
One company, Lely Industries NV, is rolling out a system that separates cow manure from urine on barn floors, converting up to 70% of nitrogen emissions into fertilizer that farmers can use.
“This is an issue we all carry, not just the farmers,” said André van Troost, Lely’s CEO.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/europes-green-vision-finds-latest-foe-in-dutch-farmers-angered-by-greenhouse-gas-targets-11659690358
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