DUTCH GOVERNMENT ADMITS TO TARGETING FARMERS

   Americans should start paying closer attention to the ongoing farmer protests in the Netherlands, which this week transformed long swaths of Dutch highways into what looked like a post-apocalyptic warzone: roadside fires raging out of control, manure and farming detritus heaped across highways, traffic stalled for miles, and massive protests across the country in support of the farmers.

    The ruling coalition government claims its radical plan, pushed by Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who branded the protests “unacceptable,” is part of an “unavoidable transition” to improve air, land, and water quality. The goal is to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide and ammonia, which are produced by livestock but which the government is labeling “pollutants,” by 50 percent nationwide by the year 2030.
    The only way to do that, many Dutch farmers say, is to slaughter the vast majority of their livestock and shutter their farms. The government knows this and admitted as much earlier this year, saying in a statement, “The honest message … is that not all farmers can continue their business,” and that farmers have three options: “Becoming more sustainable, relocating or ending their business.”

  Meanwhile, in Canada, the Trudeau government has been almost singularly focused on its crusade against climate change, even at the expense of the well-being of Canadians and our geopolitical interests. Its decision to force farmers to reduce fertilizer use at a time of high inflation and increasing food insecurity is another example of a government that turns a blind eye to the human and economic costs of its climate policies.