Thousands of farmers driving their tractors demonstrated June 22 in central Netherlands protesting government plans to compel them to reduce their livestock herds by 30%, forcing the scaling back or closing of a number of farms. Traffic came to a standstill for miles around the town of Stroe, east of Amsterdam, during the action.
The capitalist rulers in the Netherlands — as in many other countries — are determined to advance “climate change” schemes regardless of their impact on working people.
“You can’t just close farms that are hundreds of years old. You just can’t,” Jan Poorter, 74, told Agence France-Presse. Protesters carried signs saying, “The future of farmers is being destroyed” and “No farmers, no food.”
As tractors parked outside the Dutch parliament building in The Hague June 28, Prime Minister Mark Rutte dismissed the protest. “The honest message,” he told the press, “is that not all farmers can continue their business.”
Netherlands is an important agricultural exporter, especially to other countries in Europe. The Dutch government has mandated that emission of pollutants, predominantly nitrogen oxide and ammonia, be cut by up to 70% in many areas to comply with EU greenhouse gas regulations.