Dutch farmers are embroiled in a summer of discontent that shows no sign of abating. Their target? Government plans to rein in emissions of nitrogen oxide and ammonia that they say threatens to wreck their agricultural way of life and put them out of business.
The reduction targets could radically alter the Netherlands' lucrative agriculture sector, which is known for its intensive farming, and may also foreshadow similar reforms -- and protests -- in other European nations whose farmers also pump out pollutants.
"If you ask me now, I'd say, please don't even think about it," the 41-year-old said. "There are so many worries. Life's much too beautiful to deal with what's going on in the agriculture sector at the moment.
When the Council of State, the country's top administrative court and legislative advisory body, ruled in 2019 that Dutch policies to rein in nitrogen emissions were inadequate, it forced the government to consider tougher measures. Nitrogen expert Wim de Vries, a professor at Wageningen University and Research, doubts that deadline is realistic.
Farmers also clashed with police outside the home of the minister in charge of the government's nitrogen policies. And this week an officer opened fire on a tractor driven by a 16-year-old. After initially being held on suspicion of attempted manslaughter, the young driver was released without charge.
The LTO, which represents about 30,000 farms -- nearly a half of the Dutch total -- described the nitrogen reduction target as "simply unfeasible." Dutch farms produced exports worth 94.5 billion euros in 2019.
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