We are dangerously close to reducing our national and international discussions to farce.
The Netherlands is said to be the largest exporter of meat in Europe and the second largest exporter of food overall after the United States, a remarkable feat for a nation half the size of Indiana
Dutch agriculture and horticulture account for 10% of the national economy and 17.5% of exports (€65 billion annually).
The government is demanding a cut in nitrogen pollution of 50% by 2030. That amount would require a livestock reduction of one-third or more and thus bankrupt many farmers.
Data show ammonia pollution from manure has already declined by nearly 70% since 1990.
Since the early 1960s, the Netherlands has doubled its yields while using the same amount of fertilizer.
Some 40,000 farmers gathered last week in the central Netherlands’ agricultural heartland to protest the government’s plans. Many arrived by tractor, snarling traffic around the country.
Politico (July 6):: Dutch police fired shots at tractor-riding farmers who were protesting against plans to cut nitrogen emissions on Tuesday evening in northern Netherlands.
Neighboring Belgium, which has the third-highest EU livestock concentration and a major nitrogen problem as well, is watching the Netherlands closely. The government of the Dutch-speaking region, Flanders, wants to reduce the number of pigs 30% by 2030 and is offering farmers €150 euros per pig and €855 euros per sow to buy them out.
New Zealand has unveiled a plan to tax sheep and cattle burps in a bid to tackle one of the country’s biggest sources of greenhouse gases.
It would make it the first nation to charge farmers for the methane emissions from the animals they keep.
New Zealand is home to just over five million people, along with around 10 million cattle and 26 million sheep.
Almost half the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, mainly methane.
The Netherlands is said to be the largest exporter of meat in Europe and the second largest exporter of food overall after the United States, a remarkable feat for a nation half the size of Indiana
Dutch agriculture and horticulture account for 10% of the national economy and 17.5% of exports (€65 billion annually).
The government is demanding a cut in nitrogen pollution of 50% by 2030. That amount would require a livestock reduction of one-third or more and thus bankrupt many farmers.
Data show ammonia pollution from manure has already declined by nearly 70% since 1990.
Since the early 1960s, the Netherlands has doubled its yields while using the same amount of fertilizer.
Some 40,000 farmers gathered last week in the central Netherlands’ agricultural heartland to protest the government’s plans. Many arrived by tractor, snarling traffic around the country.
Politico (July 6):: Dutch police fired shots at tractor-riding farmers who were protesting against plans to cut nitrogen emissions on Tuesday evening in northern Netherlands.
Neighboring Belgium, which has the third-highest EU livestock concentration and a major nitrogen problem as well, is watching the Netherlands closely. The government of the Dutch-speaking region, Flanders, wants to reduce the number of pigs 30% by 2030 and is offering farmers €150 euros per pig and €855 euros per sow to buy them out.
New Zealand has unveiled a plan to tax sheep and cattle burps in a bid to tackle one of the country’s biggest sources of greenhouse gases.
It would make it the first nation to charge farmers for the methane emissions from the animals they keep.
New Zealand is home to just over five million people, along with around 10 million cattle and 26 million sheep.
Almost half the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, mainly methane.
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No news on JOSEPH STALIN?
A holy man. A seminarian.
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