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Agriculture

New documentary ‘Nitrogen 2000’ exposes the Dutch government’s war on farmers

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16 minute read

Tractors belonging to Dutch farmers are parked with protest boards and Dutch flags upside down on a road on the outskirts of The Hague on September 20, 2022, in The Hague, Netherlands

From LifeSiteNews

By Dr. Joseph Mercola

Ultimately, the documentary highlights a power struggle where fear and environmental narratives are used to justify land control, leaving farmers marginalized and resources controlled by a select few.

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • Dutch cattle farmers own 70 percent of Holland, but the government is pushing for a forced buy out of 50 percent of their land, claiming it’s necessary to reduce pollution.
  • Experts say the move to get rid of farmers isn’t about the environment but, rather, taking control of valuable land.
  • The government’s computer models, which are used to support its plan to reduce nitrogen by buying up farmland, are based on a flawed assumption that nitrogen migrates from one field to the next.
  • The push to remove farmers from their land is being driven by NGOs, which are primarily funded by the government, making them government extensions.
  • A $25 billion government fund, created using taxpayers’ money, has been established to buy farmers’ land; once a farmer sells their land, they’ll be legally prohibited from establishing a farm anywhere else in Europe.

(Mercola) — Nitrogen 2000 is an important 45-minute documentary on the Dutch farmer struggle of 2019-23. Dutch cattle farmers own 70 percent of Holland, but in 2019, the government began pushing for a forced buyout of 50 percent of their land, claiming it’s necessary to reduce pollution. But for the approximately 60,000 farmers in the Netherlands, agriculture is a way of life, often passed down through the generations – one that’s necessary to supply food for the population.

According to a press release for the film, “Dutch farmers produce the most food per hectare of farmers anywhere, and the Netherlands is the world’s second largest exporter of agricultural products.”

Farms are interwoven into the fabric of their communities, such that “everyone, even if you live in the city like in Amsterdam or in Rotterdam, in a five-minute drive you will see cows, you will see farmland… it’s so ingrained in our society, in our way of life, that farmers are part of our culture. Everyone has someone in their family who was once a farmer,” says political commentator Sietske Bergsma.

But as professor Han Lindeboom, a marine ecologist at Wageningen University & Research, explains in the film, “The government has taken the stance that we have a huge problem with nature and that due to EU regulations we should save nature. And nowadays we want to solve that problem by simply eliminating a large amount of farms.”

The Dutch government claims it needs to nationalize half of cattle farmers’ land – an amount equal to about one-third of Holland – in order to reduce nitrogen, but experts say this plan is seriously flawed.

Is nitrogen really the problem?

Carbon and nitrogen have been declared environmental enemies by officials worldwide, prompting an array of restrictions. The U.N. has stated that nitrogen must be managed in order to save the planet, and nitrogen is described as “one of the most important pollution issues facing humanity.” Nitrogen not only is found in fertilizers, but it also makes up about 70 percent of air and is essential for plant growth.

“The nitrogen is only a problem for a few plants,” Lindeboom explains. “There are certain plants that don’t like it and they disappear. Other plants like it and they appear. So, basically what you’re doing is changing nature.”

“They have declared that nitrogen is the major problem,” Lindeboom, an adviser to NIOZ, the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, continues in the press release. “Well, I am an expert in nitrogen and I dare to say it is not.” According to Lindeboom, the government’s computer models, which are used to support its plan to buy up farmland, are based on a flawed assumption that nitrogen migrates from one field to the next.

The EU is also the site of the largest network of protected areas globally, an area known as Natura 2000, which covers 18 percent of EU land. In Holland alone, there are 162 Natura 2000 areas. In 118 of them, it’s said there are organisms living that don’t like too much nitrogen.

“In 2021, the European Union’s Natura 2000 network released a map of areas in the Netherlands that are now protected against nitrogen emissions. Any Dutch farmer who operates their farm within 5 kilometers of a Natura 2000 protected area would now need to severely curtail their nitrogen output, which in turn would limit their production,” Roman Balmakov, Epoch Times reporter and host of “Facts Matter,” says.

Government forcing out farmers

Many Dutch farmers are now facing the loss of their farms over the controversial nitrogen rules. Farmer Jos Block says:

We have a lot of problems with the nitrogen rules because our farm is near to and in Natura 2000. And that is really a problem for us. This is my land. I’m the owner. But this is also a nature land, the Natura 2000. In this area, the government says we need to reduce 95% of the nitrogen that’s coming out of the stables.

But experts, including Lindeboom, say this is “absolutely not necessary to save nature” and the government is “picking on farmers much too much.” Dutch dairy farmer Nynke Koopmans with the Forum for Democracy is among those who believe the nitrogen problem is made up.

“It’s one big lie,” she says. “The nitrogen has nothing to do with environment. It’s just getting rid of farmers.” Another farmer said if new nitrogen rules go into effect, he’d have to reduce his herd of 58 milking cows down to six. Nitrogen scientist Jaap C. Hanekamp, Ph.D., was working for a government committee to study nitrogen, tasked with analyzing the government’s nitrogen model. He told Balmakov:

The whole policy is based on the deposition model about how to deal with nitrogen emissions on nature areas. And I looked at the validation studies and show that the model is actually crap. It doesn’t work. And doesn’t matter. They still continue using it. Which is, in a sense, unsettling. I mean, really, can we do such a thing in terms of policy? Use a model which doesn’t work? It’s never about innovation, it’s always about getting rid of farmers.

The Dutch government has been gradually tightening its grasp on farmers for some time. Every year, farmers must report details about the number of cows they farm and how many they plan to have in the future. The government also dictates what types of crops farmers grow and requires complicated and expensive manure testing for phosphates and ammonia, driving up farmers’ costs and reducing their income.

Government-funded NGOs are lobbying to get rid of farmers

The push to remove farmers from their land is being driven by NGOs, which are primarily funded by the government, making them government extensions. A $25 billion government fund, created using taxpayers’ money, has also been established to buy farmers’ land.

Once a farmer sells their land, they’ll be legally prohibited from establishing a farm anywhere else in Europe. Meanwhile, the NGOs may even end up farming the land once they’ve pushed the farmer out of the picture. According to the film’s press release:

NGOs – namely Dierenbescherming, Varkens in Nood, Greenpeace, Vogelbescherming, Natuurmonumenten – are the primary organizations lobbying for the nitrogen policy. Their budget is funded by the Dutch government. Once a farmer is bought out, the NGOs become custodians of the land and, in some cases, put cows back on the land to manage it.

Commenting on this policy, farmer Bolk said, ‘I do the same as the nature organizations in Holland… I think it’s very strange that a farmer is not allowed to do it but a nature organization can do the same as I do and then there is no nitrogen problem.’

The real agenda, however, may be traced back to the Club of Rome, a think tank that aligned with neo-malthusianism – the idea that an overly large population would decimate resources – and was intending to implement a global depopulation agenda.

“They came up with this incredible document where they actually said, ‘We need a new justification for this all-powerful state,’” international journalist Alex Newman says. “So, the new excuse is going to be because the environment is going to be harmed and because climate is going to hurt us.” Balmakov continues:

I could not believe what I just heard, that world leaders really laid out this globalist plan in plain English in a physical book, way back in 1991. I went on Amazon. And there it was.

‘The First Global Revolution,’ which states, and I quote, ‘In searching for a common enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine, and the like, would fit the bill. And therefore, the real enemy is humanity itself.’

In its quest to reduce nitrogen, the Dutch government is targeting farmers, not industry, such as brick factories, which also produce nitrogen to build new houses. The reason, many believe, lies in the land itself.

Is the nitrogen crisis a cover for land control?

Innovative farming methods and changes in food can reduce livestock emissions. But even when farmers have told the government they’d get rid of their cows – just not their land – the government refused.

“Under the guise of democracy and liberalism, they are taking away rights,” political commentator Sietske Bergsma says. “And most people are fine with it because they feel this sort of responsibility – maybe because it’s so ‘progressive’ to care about the climate – so they’re willing to actually sacrifice their own well-being.”

The narrative is based on fear and telling people what they must do in order to be safe. “We’ve paid a really high price for this because we gave up all our freedoms to feel safe,” Bergsma adds. “And obviously this safety is also very fake because you can’t be safe without being free. It’s not about saving the planet. It’s about government control because that’s in effect what is happening.”

Once the farmers are pushed out, globalists suggest eating bugs will protect the planet by eliminating the need for livestock, cutting down on agricultural land use and protecting the environment. The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization also encourages the consumption of insects and insect-based foods, and the momentum to get farmers off their land is continuing to gain steam.

In 2023, the European Commission approved two Dutch schemes to buy out farmers’ land. While some farmers staged protests against the plans to reduce nitrogen emissions, more than 750 Dutch farmers had signed up for the buy-out scheme as of November 2023, with about 3,000 expected to be eligible for the program. Similar programs are also being discussed in Canada, Ireland, and the U.S. But ultimately, as environmental journalist Rypke Zeilmaker explains:

It’s not about nature protection. Only the ones who, in this process, have acquired the most money will have the ruling power. It comes down to control of resources in the hands of the few. Look at the power of the NGOs. Who do they really support? Who’s pumping money into them? It’s always governments and billionaires doing it…

So, this is the relation between government and NGOs. To an extent you can sell the public. You can buy the public opinion… It’s all about fear. It’s about making people fear for the future so that they would agree with policies that, if they are sober, they would never agree with.

Reprinted with permission from Mercola.

Agriculture

Ottawa may soon pass ‘supply management’ law to effectively maintain inflated dairy prices

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From the Fraser Institute

By Jerome Gessaroli

Many Canadians today face an unsettling reality. While Canada has long been known as a land of plenty, rising living costs and food insecurity are becoming increasingly common concerns. And a piece of federal legislation—which may soon become law—threatens to make the situation even worse.

According to Statistics Canada, rising prices are now “greatly affecting” nearly half of Canadians who are subsequently struggling to cover basic living costs. Even more alarming, 53 per cent are worried about feeding their families. For policymakers, few national priorities are more pressing than the ability of Canadians to feed themselves.

Between 2020 and 2023, food prices surged by 24 per cent, outpacing the overall inflation rate of 15 per cent. Over the past year, more than one million people visited Ontario food banks—a 25 per cent increase from the previous year.

Amid this crisis, a recent academic report highlighted an unforgivable waste. Since 2012, Canada’s dairy system has discarded 6.8 billion litres of milk—worth about $15 billion. This is not just mismanagement, it’s a policy failure. And inexcusably, the federal government knows how to address rising prices on key food staples but instead turns a blind eye.

Canada’s dairy sector operates under a “supply management” system that controls production through quotas and restricts imports via tariffs. Marketing boards work within this system to manage distribution and set the prices farmers receive. Together, these mechanisms effectively limit competition from both domestic and foreign producers.

This rigid regulated system suppresses competition and efficiency—both are essential for lower prices. Hardest hit are low-income Canadians as they spend a greater share of their income on essentials such as groceries. One estimate ranks Canada as having the sixth-highest milk prices worldwide.

The price gap between the United States and Canada for one litre of milk is around C$1.57. A simple calculation shows that if we could reduce the price gap by half, to $0.79, Canadians would save nearly $1.9 billion annually. And eliminating the price gap would save a family of four $360 a year. There would be further savings if the government also liberalized markets for other dairy products such as cheese, butter and yogurt. These lower costs would make a real difference for millions of Canadians.

Which brings us back to the legislation pending on Parliament Hill. Instead of addressing the high food costs, Ottawa is moving in the opposite direction. Bill C-282, sponsored by the Bloc Quebecois, has passed the House of Commons and is now before the Senate. If enacted, it would stop Canadian trade negotiators from letting other countries sell more supply-managed products in Canada as part of any future trade deal, effectively increasing protection for Canadian industries and creating another legal barrier to reform. While the governing Liberals hold ultimate responsibility for this bill, all parties to some degree support it.

Supply management is already causing trade friction. The U.S. and New Zealand have filed disputes (under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) accusing Canada of failing to meet its commitments on dairy products. If Canada is found in violation, it could face tariffs or other trade restrictions in unrelated sectors. Dairy was also a sticking point in negotiations with the United Kingdom, leading the British to suspend talks on a free trade deal. The costs of defending supply management could ripple farther than agriculture, hurting other Canadian businesses and driving up consumer costs.

Dairy farmers, of course, have invested heavily in the system, and change could be financially painful. Industry groups including the Dairy Farmers of Canada carry significant political influence, especially in Ontario and Quebec, making it politically costly for any party to propose reforms. The concerns of farmers are valid and must be addressed—but they should not stand in the way of opening up these heavily regulated agricultural sectors. With reasonable financial assistance, a gradual transition could ease the burden. After all, New Zealand, with just 5 million people, managed to deregulate its dairy sector and now exports 95 per cent of its milk to 130 countries. There’s no reason Canada could not do something similar.

Bill C-282 is a flawed piece of legislation. Supply management already hurts the most vulnerable Canadians and is the root cause of two trade disputes that threaten harm to other Canadian industries. If passed, this law will further tie the government’s hands in negotiating future free trade agreements. So, who benefits from it? Certainly not Canadians struggling with food insecurity. The government’s refusal to modernize an outdated inefficient system forces Canadians to pay more for basic food staples. If we continue down this path, the economic damage could spread to other sectors, leaving Canadians to bear an ever-increasing financial burden.

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Agriculture

2024 harvest wrap-up: Minister Sigurdson

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As the 2024 growing season comes to a close, Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation RJ Sigurdson issued the following statement:

“While many Albertans were enjoying beautiful fall days with above-average temperatures, farmers were working around the clock to get crops off their fields before the weather turned. I commend their continued dedication to growing quality crops, putting food on tables across the province and around the world.

“Favourable weather conditions in August and early September allowed for a rapid start to harvest, leading to quick and efficient completion.

“The final yield estimates show that while the South, North West and Peace regions were slightly above average, the yields in the Central and North East regions were below average.

“Crop quality for oats and dry peas is currently exceeding the five-year average, with a higher rate of these crops grading in the top two grade categories. In contrast, spring wheat, durum, barley and canola are all grading in the top two grades at rates lower than the five-year average.

“Crop grading is a process that determines the quality of a grain crop based on visual inspection and instrument analysis. Factors like frost damage, colour, moisture content and sprouting all impact grade and affect how the grain will perform during processing or how the end product will turn out. Alberta generally produces high-quality crops.

“Farmers faced many challenges over the last few years and, for some areas of the province, 2024 was a difficult growing season. But Alberta producers are innovative and resilient. They work constantly to meet challenges head-on and drive sustainable growth in our agricultural sector.

“Alberta farmers help feed the world, and I’m proud of the reputation for safe, high-quality agricultural products that this industry has built for itself. Thank you to our producers, and congratulations on another successful harvest!”

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