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WORLD NEWS Monday 11 July 2022

Anger simmers for Dutch farmers who oppose pollution cuts

By MIKE CORDER years. We anyhow have to
Associated Press wait for decades for nature
MAASLAND, Netherlands to improve seriously.”
(AP) — Bales of hay lie burn- Farmers have been pro-
ing along Dutch highways. testing for years against the
Supermarket shelves stand government’s nitrogen pol-
empty because distribu- icies, but the emissions tar-
tion centers are blocked gets unleashed new dem-
by farmers. Then, at dusk, a onstrations, with tractors
police officer pulls his pistol clogging highways and su-
and shoots at a tractor. permarket distribution cen-
Dutch farmers are em- ters that led briefly to some
broiled in a summer of dis- shortages of fresh produce.
content that shows no sign Farmers also clashed with
of abating. Their target? police outside the home
Government plans to rein of the minister in charge of
in emissions of nitrogen ox- the government’s nitrogen
ide and ammonia that they policies. And this week an
say threatens to wreck their officer opened fire on a
agricultural way of life and tractor driven by a 16-year-
put them out of business. old. After initially being held
The reduction targets could on suspicion of attempted
radically alter the Nether- manslaughter, the young
lands’ lucrative agriculture Protesting farmers block a drawbridge at locks in the Princess Margriet canal, preventing all ship driver was released without
sector, which is known for its traffic from passing in Gaarkeuken, northern Netherlands, Monday, July 4, 2022. Associated Press charge.
intensive farming, and may The Dutch government
also foreshadow similar re- about it,” the 41-year-old country’s farms produced their business. The minister has appointed a veteran
forms — and protests — in said. “There are so many exports worth 94.5 billion sees three options for farm- political negotiator to act
other European nations worries. Life’s much too euros in 2019. ers: become (more) sus- as a middleman, but the
whose farmers also pump beautiful to deal with Nitrogen oxides and am- tainable, relocate or stop.” gesture was immediately
out pollutants.That turmoil what’s going on in the ag- monia raise nutrient levels The Dutch government rejected by activist farm-
seems a long way off Fri- riculture sector at the mo- and acidity in the soil, lead- aims to slash nitrogen emis- ers and the nation’s largest
day at Jaap Zegwaard’s ment.” ing to a reduction in biodi- sions by 50% by 2030 and farming lobby group.
dairy farm, which occupies “Ask the average farmer: versity. Airborne nitrogen has earmarked an extra “The government does not
80 hectares (200 acres) of it’s profoundly sad,” he leads to smog and tiny par- 24.3 billion euros ($25.6 bil- offer any space to enter
grassland close to the port said. ticles that are damaging to lion) to fund the changes. into a real conversation,”
city of Rotterdam, whose At the heart of the clash people’s health. Provincial authorities have said the farming lobby
chimneys and cranes form between farmers and the When the Council of State, one year to draw up plans group LTO. “Under these
a backdrop to his fields. Dutch government are the country’s top adminis- for achieving the reduc- conditions, speaking with
Most of Zegwaard’s herd moves to protect human trative court and legislative tions. the mediator is pointless.”
of 180 cattle, mostly black health and vulnerable nat- advisory body, ruled in 2019 Nitrogen expert Wim de Vr- The LTO, which represents
and white Holstein-Friesians, ural habitats from pollution that Dutch policies to rein ies, a professor at Wagenin- about 30,000 farms — near-
graze in meadows close to in the form of nitrogen ox- in nitrogen emissions were gen University and Re- ly a half of the Dutch total
a traditional Dutch windmill ides and ammonia, which inadequate, it forced the search, doubts that dead- — described the nitrogen
and large white wind tur- are produced by industry, government to consider line is realistic. reduction target as “simply
bines. And even if the farm transport and in the waste tougher measures. “It seems to be very fast unfeasible.” Dutch farms
has been in Zegwaard’s of livestock. Unveiling a map detailing and there is a legacy, al- produced exports worth
family for five generations, The Netherlands, a na- nitrogen reduction targets ready for 40 years, be- 94.5 billion euros in 2019.
some 200 years, he doesn’t tion of 17.5 million people last month, the Dutch gov- cause the problem was The group says the govern-
know if he would recom- inhabiting an area a little ernment called it an “un- much bigger in the 1980s. ment is focused on reduc-
mend the farming life to his larger than Maryland, has avoidable transition.” It said We then called it ‘acid ing livestock and buying
a 7-year-old daughter and 1.57 million registered dairy the coming year would fi- rain,’” he said. “Consider- up farms and not paying
3-year-old twin boys. cattle and just over 1 mil- nally bring clarity for Dutch ing that legacy, it doesn’t enough attention to in-
“If you ask me now, I’d say, lion calves being raised for farmers, “whether and how make so much difference novation and sustainable
please don’t even think meat, statistics show. The they can continue with if we do it in 7 or 10 or 12 farming practices.q