AMAC Exclusive – By Andrew Abbott
The citizens of many European nations must have whiplash when it comes to their governments’ ill-advised climate policies.
Just months ago, Dutch farmers made headlines worldwide with their strident resistance to the extreme environmentalist attack on their country’s independent farms—part of a larger effort to upend the world’s agriculture industry for ostensibly environmental reasons. Yet at the very moment when the left is launching this new front in its war to “save” the planet, European nations are quietly backing away from their last self-destructive environmental crusade: the abolition of fossil fuels and nuclear power.
The result is a deeply confused and even incoherent climate policy that is wreaking havoc on the European Union. And the Dutch government may be pursuing the most indefensible policy of all.
In the Netherlands, they are still pressing forward radical new restrictions on farmers that will decimate the country’s vital agricultural sector and likely lead to a significant increase in food prices throughout the E.U.
Earlier this year, the Dutch government announced a number of sweeping new restrictions on farmers in order to meet environmental “standards” set by the E.U. Specifically, the restrictions called for a 50% reduction in nitrogen and ammonia emissions by 2030, which would necessitate a dramatic cut in livestock production. By some estimates, more than 11,000 Dutch farms would be forced to close, and another 17,000 would have to significantly reduce their herd numbers.
While larger corporate farms may be able to weather the cost of compliance with the restrictions, smaller family-owned farms stand little chance of staying afloat. In essence, thousands of farmers will be regulated out of existence. In July, a Dutch court ruled that farmers would either have to meet new aggressive climate standards, sell their farms, take a government buyout, or face steep financial penalties and even jail time. In one shocking example, dairy farmer Marant Neppelenbroek was told he must cut his livestock numbers by 95 percent or accept a government buy-out worth only a fraction of what he believes his farm is worth. “I can’t run a farm on 5 percent,” he told the Epoch Times in a recent interview. “For me, it’s over and done with…In view of the regulations, I can’t sell it to anybody.”
Notably, the new restrictions come after fifty years of the European Union aggressively pushing farmers to maximize output and efficiency. They encouraged generous subsidies, the adoption of high-density livestock practices, and the use of synthetic fertilizers and insecticides. As a result of this commitment, the Netherlands became the second largest food exporter in the world, despite being less than half the size of the U.S. state of Indiana. Now, however, the Dutch government appears to be punishing those same farmers for embracing that model of production.
As a result of the policy, thousands of Dutch farmers have taken to the streets in protest throughout the summer. Taking a page out of the book of truckers in Canada last winter, farmers organized long tractor caravans on many of the country’s major roadways. In response, the Dutch government sent police to break up the peaceful protests, refusing to back down from the draconian new policies. While the mainstream media has largely stopped covering the protests, they have continued throughout the summer.
However, at the same time as the Dutch government is using E.U. climate goals as justification for their assault on Dutch farmers, other E.U. member nations are quietly abandoning the E.U.’s climate change requirements in the energy sector in the face of rising costs. Germany, for instance, has announced plans to reopen its coal power plants. France has floated a similar plan. This is in addition to reclassifying nuclear power and natural gas as “green” energies, something both countries resisted for years. Other nations, most recently Estonia, are similarly backing off their commitment to E.U. climate goals and creating new oil and gas infrastructure.
Farmers and the few conservatives left in Europe have been quick to point out the blatant hypocrisy when it comes to how the energy and agricultural sectors are now treated under the E.U.’s climate agenda. After years of economists and energy industry experts – and conservative world leaders like former U.S. President Donald Trump – warning that an unrealistic climate agenda would lead to shortages and a dangerous overreliance on Russians exports, skyrocketing costs are now forcing Europe to face that reality. But instead of realizing that the continent may soon face a similar dilemma when it comes to food, European liberals again appear determined to put climate alarmism and appeasing the environmental lobby ahead of practicality.
Some critics have also argued that the willful destruction of Dutch farming is part of a more comprehensive strategy. In recent years, wealthy billionaires and international bodies like the World Economic Forum have asserted that the world must drastically reduce all meat consumption to protect the environment. This has come alongside an aggressive campaign to normalize “imitation” milk products, synthetic (AKA plant-based) meat, and even insect-based protein. Some publications have even suggested that opposition to consuming insects is rooted in “classism and racism.”
With the price of wheat up more than 160% year over year as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the world is already seeing the dramatic impact that a sudden cut in supply can have on food prices and food security. But should the Netherlands move forward with its planned self-destruction of the Dutch farming sector, they will have no one to blame for the next food crisis but themselves.
Andrew Abbott is the pen name of a writer and public affairs consultant with over a decade of experience in DC at the intersection of politics and culture.