The climate wrecking ball striking food supply
axios.com
axios.com
Basically everyone is unhappy about it for some reason. Some sheep farmers were told to reduce their flock by 90% or so.
But on the other hand, the pastures they’ve traditionally used to graze can no longer sustain such flocks (although this is controversial, it seems borne out by my reading). So if they continue to consider only profit motives, the pasture will end up dead and they’ll be out of work anyway.
It’s a hard problem that ought to have been solved decades ago.
That seems reasonable to me. The UK has experienced heavy deforestation and holds one of the highest percentages of land dedicated to animal farming, if I recall correctly. Animal ag is a very inefficient and polluting way to feed the population.
https://ourworldindata.org/land-use-diets
> is currently restructuring its farming subsidies to, among other things, encourage sustainable farming and mitigate food security risk
In my opinion, the best approach would be to reforest or rewild those pastures. After all, those pastures were mostly forests in the past. This protect biodiversity and wildlife, improve local microclimates, and help the country achieve its climate goals. Although grazing is sometimes promoted as a regenerative technique, scientific evidence suggests otherwise.
A potential solution could involve government subsidies for afforesting those pastures, similar to what New Zealand is doing.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S22120...
Promotion of afforestation in New Zealand’s marginal agricultural lands through payments for environmental services
"We find that even without PES, 56% of these agricultural lands present lower economic returns than forestry. When PES are considered, results suggest that, depending on the PES schemes and carbon prices, 77–100% of the low-productivity grassland areas could financially benefit from afforestation."
> It’s a hard problem that ought to have been solved decades ago.
I completely agree. Good to see those first early-but-late birds, though.
97 million chicken
12 million pigs
4 million (mostly milk) cows
Roughly half the surface area is agricultural land. And in summer, half if not more of that is either grass, or corn.
This is not used to feed people! (minor fraction of agri land). It's used to feed cows & pigs. Chicken and extra cattle feed mostly comes from elsewhere, like soy from South America.
All that milk, eggs & meat is not used to feed the Dutch! Something like 2/3 (if not 3/4) goes to export. A lot of it in the form of cheese.
A historic argument for this was that it provides jobs & income for the country. These days, something like 1 in 50 (if not 1 in 100) of jobs is in agriculture. It's highly mechanized & intensive agriculture + cattle-keeping. All this agri business produces some 2% (if not less) of GDP. Many grey-haired farmers want out, and/or their kids (if they have any) seek different careers.
That's on top of all the peppers grown under glass, flower bulbs, potatoes, etc. Plus raw materials (fertilizers, cattle feed) imported from elsewhere, nitrogen compounds & methane emissions, pressure on nature areas, cow/pig/chicken poop masses & what to do with it, animal welfare issues, and the land use in densely populated country with housing problem & too little / small natural areas.
So yeah, many Dutch ppl want that cattle heap cut... Move cows to where there's space for them.
Long overdue imho.
> Roughly half the surface area is agricultural land
That's true almost everywhere (50% of habitable land is agriculture, animal farming then 80% of that).
https://ourworldindata.org/land-use
> Move cows to where there's space for them
And that's supposed to be where? :)
https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2013/10/World-Map-by-Land...
We can't cut forests forever. Biodiversity is at all time low. Animal species have seen 70% decline in the last 50 years, insects are down by 80%, sharks by 90%, wild birds are one third of the poultry in weight, ...).
You're right, I've read about that.
> they have to promise not to start a farm elsewhere
They can farm elsewhere, but not in animal agriculture, right?
I may be wrong, but imho they can still get into plant farming, like growing vegetables, fruits or agroforestry. It would not be very logical otherwise.
The Dutch government set a really high bar for itself regarding reduction in nitrogen emissions (much higher than required by EU regulations) which is why farmers must go. Germany and Belgium allow for much higher nitrogen emissions, so it's not really a concern in these neighbouring countries.
I live in Thailand & my girlfriend got a farm. She does use fertiliser (poo from pigs, I sometimes have to carry the bags). And she avoids pesticides and herbicides, so we can eat more organic.
Buying veggies and fruits at the local markets in Thailand will contain many pesticides - not great for long term health I'm sure.