Farming is under attack. Globally.
I first shared my thoughts on this in 2022. Since then, there's been a movement of action throughout Europe, who's farmers have been the hardest hit. Farmers have been protesting in parts of Europe for a few years now, but over the last few months their numbers have increased immensely. Not that you’d know by watching/listening/reading our mainstream media in Australia. For some reason our legacy media have decided that this uprising across Europe isn’t worth reporting. It’s not that it isn't interesting…. It’s because the protests are standing up to, and fighting against, the accepted common narrative that the elites of our world have commanded.
Therefore, finding facts and pinpointing just what the Farmers are demanding, and which policies they object to, has proven difficult. There’s nothing of substance on any of our major media outlets' websites.
But the protests are in fact big news. In recent weeks the protest activity has ramped up spectacularly. It is estimated that over 15,000 tractors took to the city roads and streets in Germany alone. German protesters were emboldened by the 2022 Dutch protests, in which “The Farmer-Citizen Movement'' (or BoerburgerBeweging (BBB)) grew out of mass farmer protests, and is now the largest political party in the Dutch senate!
It wasn’t long before the French farming community joined in, followed by most countries across the European Union. In fact, as far as I can tell, Austria, Denmark, Finland and Sweden are the only EU countries where farmers have not taken to the streets.
For a better understanding of what is happening now, we have to backtrack to the years of World War II when Europe was facing food insecurity and famine. Following the war, European leaders decided to subsidise agriculture to prevent future famines. Their solution was the “Common Agriculture Policy” (CAP). The CAP promised a level playing-field and common rules across borders, and provided subsidies to farmers.
Of course, the problems that always arise with subsidies are now ingrained with European farming. Farmers vehemently protect their precious subsidies and any attempt to change, reduce or remove is met with fierce opposition.
According to European media, this is the farmer’s main problem. But, as always, there is more to the story, and subsidies are actually a minor part of their grievances.
Back to today, and the European Union has pledged to become “climate-neutral” (whatever that means) by 2050. They devised and implemented the “Green Deal” which introduced changes to the CAP. Under the Green Deal changes to CAP, they require farmers across the EU to reduce fertiliser use by at least 20% and set aside somewhere between 4% and 10% (depending on the news source) of their land in an unproductive state; ie no grazing, pasturing, and no cropping.
Farmers, due to these changes, are facing lower yields, and therefore, lower income. Farmers say they are not earning enough, are choked by taxes, green rules, and face unfair competition from imports.
Like I said, finding facts on the farmer’s grievances is proving difficult, as most legacy media outlets simplify the raft of complex matters down to “farmers are not getting enough pay” and are protesting “reduced diesel subsidies”.
All farmers across Europe are are worried about increased government interference in their ability to produce. They see the proposals as creeping socialism, and they don’t like it. And who can blame them? Eastern European nations have an intimate knowledge of the evils of socialism, having experienced it’s murderous ways in recent history.
The EU's green proposals look to be over and above the already unachievable and harmful "Agenda 2030' of the United Nations. Like all of these recent policies, Agenda 2030 looks like a reasonable and sensible set of ideas, until you dig a little deeper. We might look at that in more detail at a later date. But for now we'll concentrate on the Farmers.
It appears that, in addition to all of the above, most nations have their own additional and particular grievances. Here’s what I can glean from a bit or reading:
EU Wide: The EU is imposing strict environmental controls as they target Net Zero by 2050. Carbon and methane are emitted during production of food and fibre. We’re not just talking about fuel emissions, but natural emissions as well. Cattle belch and fart methane, after all. The EU is imposing a tax on all of these emissions to force farmers to reduce their herds and area under crop. Yep, they're taxing farts. And these taxes are on top of the ubiquitous European Carbon Tax, of course.
Also, farmers are faced with pesticide reduction measures and in some cases, total bans. There is a targeted reduction of chemical plant protection by 50% across the EU. Reducing crop protection chemicals means a massive increase in the use of diesel, equipment, and a farmer’s time. These inefficiencies lead to higher input costs, lower yields, lower quality product and reduced (if not diminished) profits.
This is part of a push to make farming “organic” across the EU. For the time being, the organic farming mandate is set at 25% of land area. While I have no problem with the idea of organic farming, turning such a large portion of productive land over to such practices, again, reduces yields significantly and increases fuel and time inputs. Government is attempting to control land use of privately owned farms and as mentioned above, these restrictions include something like 10% of farmland - on each farm - to remain unused for any commercial enterprise.
Then there's Ukraine. When Russia marched into Ukraine, the EU decided that one of the best ways to support Ukraine was to purchase its agricultural products such as wheat, sugar and meat including poultry. These purchases are in addition to, and in volumes exceeding, normal trade. The EU pays a premium price for the Ukrainian product, which is then made cheaper with subsidies and waiving of import duties and taxes, and even subsidises the freight of the goods into Europe. This has resulted in the market being flooded with "cheap" product. In another example of a lack of self-awareness, the Ukrainian product is produced with chemicals and methods that are already illegal in the EU. But perhaps the most egregious problem with the EU’s purchasing of Ukrainian product is that their purchasing power has cut poorer nations out of the market. So grain in particular is not going to poorer African countries, where it is needed the most.
: The Netherlands is the world’s second largest producer of agricultural products. For such a small nation their production of everything from cut flowers to beef is phenomenal.
The Dutch government has a target of a 55-60% cut in emissions by 2030, 70% by 2035, and 80% by 2040. As a result of this policy, the Government proposed compulsory acquisition and permanent closure of farms. I haven’t been able to find evidence of the area that they tried to acquire, but I’ve seen reports of up to 20% of the Dutch farmland is (was) earmarked for closure. That’s one in five farming families having their land seized and being marched off their own property. Like what happened to Ukraine earlier this century, and we know how that ended - millions starved to death.
On top of this is (was) the mandated reduction of herds where all farmers were to reduce their stock by 50%. If farmers did not voluntarily reduce their stock, the Government said that they would enter their farms and destroy excess stock.
Measures like those above make mandated reduction of fertilisers and taxation on Nitrogen seem insignificant, but both measures threaten yields, production and profits.
Another bone of contention is a perceived lack of respect from media and politicians, which bleeds into the general population.
The Dutch farmers have been protesting in one way or another since 2019. Their actions have seen significant shifts in policy, with measures being either watered down or scrapped. Their action has seen massive political change with a new party (the BBB) now holding a senate majority. The BBB has promised to reverse these decisions, but at time of writing, haven't been able to form a coalition government in their complicated party system. Having said that, the farmers are optimistic but remain cautious.
Germany: In Germany, where farmers’ protests peaked with about 30,000 farmers and 15,000 tractors in Berlin in mid-January, farmers are faced with the prospect of increased taxes across the board, as well as a removal of the Diesel Fuel Tax Rebate. Similar to the fuel excise rebate in Australia, the “road users levy” portion of fuel taxes is returned to farmers for vehicles/machinery that does not use the road network. With the German government budget blow-out of recent years, moves to cancel this rebate has met fierce opposition.
France - The French government in early February sent armoured vehicles to protect a wholesale food market in Paris from protesting farmers. Their grief is similar to that of other EU nations, with the added threat of chemical crop protection bans.
The french protests have been the most visually spectacular, with farmers blocking motorways with hay, spoiled silage, old tyres and burning piles of rubbish. Government buildings and infrastructure has been sprayed with mulch and animal effluent.
Italy - Diesel costs and over-regulation of the sector are the additional concerns.
Ireland - Farmers have been told that, in order to achieve promised methane reductions, the national herd needs to be culled by 20%. If farmers are unwilling to thin their herd then the government has promised to increase taxation and forcing them to comply. The final step is to enter the farms and destroy their excess herd. This applies to dairy cattle, too.
Slovakia - The end of “EU Green fanaticism” is their mantra. If anyone knows about government interference, it’s the Slovaks!
Latvia - protesting cheap imports under free trade and EU CAP
Spain - Farmers have put their grievances into one basket and labelled it “Socialism”.
Other protests of significant size have been seen in Portugal, Czech Republic, Belgium, Greece (also facing an end to fuel excise rebates), Poland, Romania, Malta, Finland, Switzerland, Turkey, Luxembourg, Austria, Hungary, and Slovenia. And possibly more.
Since I started writing this, other non-european countries have joined in, such as England, Wales, Scotland, India and Canada. Not that you’d know by watching our news broadcasts.
The European Elections this June should be interesting. It remains to be seen the gymnastics that may be performed by national governments and their EU representatives before the elections.
So what does this mean for Australia? While it’s much more subtle, farming is under attack here too. Thousands of acres of farming land has been surrendered to Carbon Sequestration in northern NSW and southern Queensland. These landowners are not permitted to use broadacre weed clearing techniques by either cultivation or by chemical application. The result? Woody weed infestation and the accompanying feral animal invasion. This was a Howard government idea.
Howard also separated water from land and turned water for irrigation to the control of financial markets. The result has been more and more irrigation water being removed from productive use, which has artificially inflated the cost of water. Over recent years, 1,239 gigalitres per year (GL/y) has been removed from irrigators in the Murray-Darling basin. This is equivalent to two-and-a-half times the volume of Sydney Harbour, per year.
The Albanese government announced this year that they intend to remove (by way of “buy-back”) a further 44 GL/y. No mention of the costs to our food and fibre production, and no mention of the environmental damage being caused to our waterways as they face increased flows from diverted water.
There’s also talk of bans on certain chemicals. Chemicals such as Glyphosate (“Roundup”) and Dicamba are facing bans overseas and there’s been talk of the same here in Australia. What people don’t realise is the massive gains in yields that these chemicals bring. Use of these crop protection sprays dramatically reduces the consumption of diesel during the preparation of crops, boosts yields during the crop cycle, and improves the quality of the harvested product. If you think that your groceries are expensive now, just wait until farmers have to revert back to 1940’s methods of cropping!
The Albanese government has also signed up to reduce methane emissions. Their primary target to achieve these reductions, like we have seen in the Netherlands, New Zealand and Ireland, is burping and farting livestock. I fear that livestock reduction legislation is just around the corner. And with that legislation comes mandated livestock culls, a reduced availability of protein, and an upward pressure on meat price.
No doubt related to that, Albanese government has also signalled that live sheep and cattle export bans are also around the corner. This government seems to be doing everything it can at the moment to demonise the practice. Many suggest that we (Australia) need to develop a tertiary industry around the exporting of meat that is already processed, and export the meat products in a “ready to sell” state. Great idea, but impossible while our energy costs are so exorbitant and a suitable labour force rare.
Also, farming land is being surrendered to “renewable energy” use. Thousands of acres across eastern Australia is being destroyed by solar arrays, wind turbines, battery storage and associated overhead high-voltage transmission lines. Farms are being torn up by these measures which are reducing productive land, reducing productivity while devaluing the land significantly.
A recent report for the Victorian Government has confirmed that, in order to reach Net Zero, 70% of farming land will be surrendered to power generation. 70% of land that produces our food, fibre, dairy and wine. How on earth do we propose to feed everyone if the productive land is reduced to just 30% of today's area?
Who will stand up for the Australian farmer, rural communities and common sense? Obviously, Labor and the Greens won’t. They have declared their disdain for primary production and obviously want to turn Australia into a nation of import consumption. The Teales are no more than virtue-signalling ideologues who contribute nothing except boosting the coffers of Simon Holmes à Court, who funds the Teals, and who coincidentally also invests heavily in renewable energy.
Forget about the Liberal Party. They have lost their way and have abandoned, by their actions, the ideals that they claim to uphold. Their web page, “Our Beliefs” is something that they should reflect upon regularly. Sadly, the Liberals' action (and inaction) demonstrate their abandonment of their own guiding principles. And they have proven to me at CPAC in 2022 and 2023 that they have little to no self-awareness, and blame the voter for their ills, rather than the party machine that seems intent upon steering them into the headwinds of political correctness and the folly of Net Zero.
The Nationals, despite the bluster of the likes of Barnaby Joyce, are no different having signed up to the Net Zero madness. In fact, it’s Mr Joyce’s signature on Australia's Net Zero declaration itself.
Bugger the lot of them!
(Photo:
Riotact)
I attended the “Reckless Renewables” protest in Canberra, along with (my estimation) 2,000 other concerned farmers and their supporters in February 2024. The protest was low-key and nothing like we’ve seen overseas. I guess we have to start somewhere. But we do have to say "enough is enough" and draw a line in the sand BEFORE the madness of Europe comes through our own farm gates.
If you feel the same as me, do some research on what political parties will stand against Net Zero, that support small government, that demand freedom of speech, association, movement and bodily autonomy.
What party stands by the farmer? What party can see the value of production? What party values the rural and remote communities of Australia? What party has voiced it's opposition to "fifteen minute cities" where ALL of us will live in massive collective cities? What parties will stand beside you when you decide that ‘enough is enough’ and stand against tyranny?
What political party understands the Liberal Democratic principle where government is in power at the behest of, and on behalf of, the people? Where it's the people who rule the Government?
Do yourself a favor. Look into it. Because nothing will change until we change our vote.
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