As we’ve discussed in the past, because of the global war on farmers, Dutch farmers are facing up to a third of their industry going out of business. All due to battling so-called man-made climate change.
Since 2019, they’ve hit the streets with their tractors, held protests and rallies across their tiny country, and politically organized. An election was held on March 15, and the result was that the Dutch farmers and their supporters spoke loud and clear. They achieved a victory that no one could have predicted for such a fledgling movement, throwing in doubt future advances to curb nitrogen emissions.
We’ll dive into this as well as give you an update on where American farmers stand in this war in this episode of Analysis Behind the News.
The Dutch farmers were clearly underestimated. Radical environmentalists and others supporting such green tyranny assumed their woke policies, that had been forced upon them by the European Union, could not be defeated.
But they were. According to the Telegraph, “the Farmers-Citizen Movement … came from nowhere to scoop 17 seats in the Dutch senate.”
This is larger than the Prime Minister’s ruling party, which suffered a loss from 12 seats down to 10.
For a bit more clarity, the Dutchreview.com reports that the Dutch were voting for 12 provincial councils. These councils will then vote in the 75 members of the Senate at the end of May.
Food Scientist Frederic Leroy from Brussels tweeted that “Preliminary results indicate that the Farmer-Citizen Movement #BBB has become the leading political party in *every* single province of the Netherlands. Impressive.”
He also tweeted in the same thread, “’Incompetence of ministers’ was given as n°1 reason for yesterday’s voting behaviour, indicating that this is not only about environmental laws (nitrogen + climate as reasons 2 & 5), but also an expression of deep dissatisfaction with the political class.”
As CNN reported, “The developments have thrown the Dutch government’s ambitious environmental plans into doubt and are being watched closely by the rest of Europe.”
“Wednesday’s election win is significant as it means the party is now set to be the largest in the Upper House of Parliament, which has the power to block legislation agreed in the Lower House – throwing the Dutch government’s environmental policies into question.
As the election results emerged overnight on Wednesday, BBB leader Caroline van der Plas told domestic broadcaster Radio 1: ‘Nobody can ignore us any longer.’
‘Voters have spoken out very clearly against this government’s policies.’”
Indeed they have. The current prime minister’s coalition parties did not garner enough seats to create a cabinet, so the BBB will certainly be a powerful force during cabinet creation.
However, the EU is not taking this sitting down. In a separate article, the Telegraph reported, “Brussels has warned furious Dutch farmers that compulsory farm buyouts are the only way for the Netherlands to meet its EU climate targets.
Climate chief Frans Timmermans said the European Commission would explain the green laws to
Caroline van der Plas, the leader of the Farmers-Citizen Movement (BBB).”
While the Farmers-Citizen Movement has said they are not in favor of leaving the EU—that they would prefer a common market to a superstate — it appears that this may be the only long term solution to protect their way of life and to restore the country’s lost sovereignty.
We’ll keep our eyes on their progress in the coming weeks and months and hope they can block the EU’s green tyranny with their hard-won victory.
Another member of the European Union has decided to adopt the Dutch farmers methods. According to the Telegraph, last week, “About 5,000 Slovenian farmers drove through nearly two dozen cities and towns” to protest “EU green laws.”
Their protest is ongoing and will not end until the government meets with them to hear their demands.
The Telegraph also reported, “The Slovenian farmers want the number of EU-protected Natura 2000 sites scaled back. There are 355 Natura sites in Slovenia, which cover more than a third of the country.”
These Natura or Nature 2000 sites are areas that have been deemed environmentally sensitive to nitrogen and governments are working to get farmers in these areas to drastically cut nitrogen emissions. The Dutch government gave farmers the option of renovating their practices, including culling most of their herds or being bought out by the government. Officials emphasized that this will be voluntary at first, and then mandatory, where farms would be confiscated and farmers thrown off the land. It’s unclear if Slovenia is following the same program.
Nonetheless, these protests have also spilled over into Northern Belgium, a southern neighbor to the Netherlands. Earlier in the month, nearly 3,000 farmers in Flanders drove their tractors into Brussels to voice their anger at farmers being unfairly targeted for nitrogen emissions. Unfortunately, some protestors seem to have bought into the green scheme of tyranny. Reuters quoted one protestor as saying, “We are all convinced that something has to change nitrogen-wise, but the agricultural sector should not be treated differently to the industrial sector.”
It’s hard to blame them when media and government propaganda continuously bombard them to help clean up the environment and save the planet.
Here in the states, the green tyranny continues to unfold with the Biden administration’s assistance. President Biden issued his first veto. Congress passed a bill that would have blocked a rule from the Department of Labor that allows retirement fund managers to use ESG or woke environmental, social, and governance scores. Due to its poor performance and increasing exposure, many states are navigating away from ESG financial management, despite Biden’s insistence that it be used.
American ranchers and farmers continue to be in a pickle. According to The Epoch Times, the USDA is forecasting that total red meat and poultry production are expected to decrease for the first time since 2014. This will cause at least beef prices to jump, as many livestock were sent for slaughter last year. The American beef herd is at its lowest since 1962. Last year’s severe drought drove up livestock feed prices, leading to many cows being sent to slaughter.
Hit very hard by many years of drought, California farmers are feeling the effects of the historic levels of snow and rain dumped on them over the last several weeks. The Epoch Times reported that 45 percent of California is no longer in a drought. The bad news is that the ensuing floods have ruined millions of dollars of crops in the San Joaquin Valley, which is considered the breadbasket of the U.S., so expect prices for those crops to increase as well.
California government is not known for utilizing the best water management practices. The Department of Water Resources bans 50 percent of the water for human use, allowing it to flow into the Pacific Ocean. The other 50 percent is allowed for humans, and 40 percent of it goes for agriculture. By not capturing the water, this helps to extend drought conditions, limiting the amount of land that can be utilized for farming and ranching.
Despite the importance of farming and because of the prioritization of the environment over humans, a report in 2019 suggested that 535,000 acres in the San Joaquin Valley would have to be abandoned in order to meet water conservation goals. And not just for the that growing season, but until the year 2040!
Couple all of this with higher fuel costs, overall inflation, and implementation of green tyranny to save the planet, and this will no doubt have a devastating effect on farmers, ranchers, and the availability and price of food.
Another aspect of this green tyranny is the false concept that we must capture carbon at its source during manufacturing in order to keep it out of the atmosphere — even though carbon dioxide helps plants grow. So, carbon capture pipelines have been proposed across the Midwest, through thousands of miles of some of the best farming soils.
Five pipelines are set for Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. At least one of these pipelines, marketed as the world’s largest, will be 1,300 miles long and is supposed to capture carbon at 31 ethanol plants and be piped across the states and stored one mile underground in North Dakota, traveling through thousands of acres of privately owned farmland.
These pipelines are supposed to be buried four feet underground, with excavation occurring up to 100 feet on either side of the pipeline. Private pipeline companies will then have access to the land that these pipelines are buried in. According to Iowa Public Radio, signing easements will get property owners “a one-time payment for the purchase of an easement and [property owners] would be compensated on a sliding scale for three years’ worth of crop losses.”
Unfortunately, soils disturbed by the installation of a pipeline have a real potential to destroy the soil make-up. The Guardian reported “Iowa state researchers found that [a previously installed pipeline in 2017] damaged soil stability and, two years after construction, reduced soybean yields by 25% and corn yields by 15%.”
Not a good thing, especially if the federal government decides to cap certain fertilizers to reduce nitrogen emissions, which is exactly what Justin Trudeau has proposed for Canadian farmers.
Don’t think that it couldn’t happen here.
As a reminder to you, last year, farmers and land owners in Iowa started receiving notices telling them that it was in their best interest to allow pipeline easements from a private pipeline company or that the company would undertake methods to seize it through the Iowa Utilities Board.
Since then, The John Birch Society has helped to organize the ranchers, farmers, and other land owners to oppose this. Through grassroots efforts, local JBS staff and members have helped to educate local and state officials to utilize constitutional tools to protect property rights. Five pieces of state legislation were introduced in Iowa to do so, while two counties have established building moratoriums against carbon-capture pipelines, with several more counties considering implementation.
Let’s keep in mind that the very product being sequestered by these pipelines is responsible for the growth of crops that these pipelines will be destroying. Government doesn’t have to be logical, practical, or even truthful. Its nature is to grow, consume resources, and gain control over the people. Until government can be sequestered back to its constitutional limitations, it will freely operate.
The Founding Fathers knew as much and expected the electorate to be an active civic participant. As the Dutch farmers and The John Birch Society have demonstrated, active organization is key to keeping government overreach in check.
Are you facing these threats in your community? Then The John Birch Society stands ready to help you stop these anti-American attacks. Contact your local Coordinator today to discuss. Then join The John Birch Society. We have many educational tools that will help create a bulwark of freedom in your area.
All links are in the video description. I’m Bill Hahn for The John Birch Society, and until next time, get informed and get involved.
