Germany’s farmers are fighting back against green tyranny

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Spiked Online

The Net Zero agenda poses an existential threat to European agriculture.

 Sabine Beppler-Spahl
8th January 2024

German farmers have begun a week of nationwide demonstrations, blocking roads with tractors in protest against government plans to phase out agricultural subsidies. As Joachim Rukwied, president of the German Farmers’ Association (DBV), put it last month, ‘We will be present everywhere in a way the country has never seen before’. And the farmers are not alone. Lorry drivers, hauliers and tradespeople have also joined in the protests.

The current wave of unrest was prompted back in December. The German government announced plans to abolish tax breaks on agricultural diesel and introduce new taxes on farm vehicles – a move which would cost farmers on average €4,000 per year.

The swift and organised response of the farmers has already frightened the government. On 4 January, it tried to backtrack by announcing that subsidies for new farm vehicles would remain, and that the tax breaks on diesel would be phased out gradually over the course of the next few years, rather than suddenly this year. But these moves have not assuaged farmers’ anger. They insist that the ‘future viability of our industry’ is at stake. And so, as Rukwied put it last week, farmers ‘remain committed’ to the ‘week of action’.

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Jan 8, 2024

Farmer across Germany launch a nationwide protest in response to proposed agricultural subsidy cuts.

 

 

Jan 8, 2024 #protest #afd #greenrevolution

German farmers are protesting against eco policies.

[Valin]

The peasants are revolting, German edition

Scott Johnson

Jan. 21 2024

In the old Wizard of Id cartoon, when the King is advised the peasants are revolting, the King responds, “You can say that again.” This time around they are revolting in Germany. Spiked editor Tom Slater writes in his weekly email: “German farmers have had enough. On Monday, thousands of tractors and tens of thousands of farmers descended on Berlin, capping off a week of nationwide demonstrations. It was a revolt against punishing new green taxes, but also against the entire environmentalist agenda, which has been hammering German agriculture for decades. spiked went to Berlin to meet the people behind Europe’s latest populist revolt.” Slater has posted his video report here. I have embedded it below.

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Jan 20, 2024

German farmers have had enough. On Monday 15 January 2024, thousands of tractors and tens of thousands of Germans descended on Berlin – capping off a week of protests in which farmers blocked roads and brought life to a standstill across the country. The demonstration was sparked by government plans to abolish tax breaks on agricultural diesel and bring in new taxes on farm vehicles. But it’s also so much deeper than that. Farmers are furious with green ideology, with being made to pay the price for the government’s lofty climate goals. And they’re furious with being demonised as extremists simply for standing up for their livelihoods. spiked went to Berlin to meet the people behind Europe’s latest populist revolt. Watch, share and let us know what you think in the comments.

[Valin]

Jan 20, 2024 #farming #strike #costofliving

Farmer, Gareth Wyn Jones, and Commentator and Podcaster, Ralph Schoellhammer, discuss farmers striking over cuts to fuel subsidy payments.

[Valin]

Victory to the French farmers

Europeans are right to rise up against our eco-obsessed elites.

Fraser Myers

Jan. 30 2024

A ‘siege of Paris’ is underway. Since Monday, thousands of tractors, trailers and combine harvesters have encircled the French capital, blocking key motorways in and out of the city. Roads around Lyon, Limoges and Toulouse have also been brought to a standstill by furious farmers.

French farmers have joined the Europe-wide fightback against the green agenda. In the Netherlands, farmers have been revolting for several years against their governments’ stringent restrictions on nitrogen emissions. A policy which, according to the Dutch government’s own figures, could lead to the closure of around 3,000 farms. In Ireland, farmers have risen up over green proposals to cull over 200,000 cows. In Germany, thousands of tractors descended on Berlin earlier this month, protesting against cuts to farm subsidies, tax hikes on diesel fuel and a raft of green rules that have made farmers’ lives intolerable.

Certainly, farmers in each of these countries have their own specific grievances. Every European government has proposed its own intrusive regulations or onerous tax hikes. But these are overwhelmingly driven by a common goal: to turn agriculture into a ‘Net Zero’ industry. And for EU member states, this lofty green goal is not a choice – it is a requirement of the EU’s so-called Green Deal.

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[Valin]

Jan 30, 2024

French farmers are ramping up their industrial action in and around Paris, blocking motorways and other major transport routes.

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Jan 30, 2024 BELGIUM

Belgian farmers continued to block roads including the main E19 motorway leading to Brussels.

[Valin]

Blah..Blah

Blah Blah Blah.

[Valin]

Feb 5, 2024

[Valin]

[bFarmers’ Protests Lead EU Commission to Nix Damaging Green Plans[/b]

Gone are rules to force reduction of nitrogen (essential for fertilizers), methane (generated by cattle), plans to persuade Europeans to eat less meat, and new pesticide rules.

Leslie Eastman

Thursday, February 8, 2024

The last time we checked on the farmers’ protests in Europe, farmers in Belgium had surrounded the European Parliament area and had a special message for Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. The demonstrators, who were focused on the green rule-making that has hindered the profitability of European agriculturalists, had a special message for the head of the agency: “Ursula, we are here!”

It appears the continent-wide demonstrations have made an impact, as the commission is rolling out some of its unrealistic green plans for a global utopia. Gone, for example, are rules to force the reduction of nitrogen (essential for fertilizers), methane (generated by cattle), and plans to persuade European citizens to eat less meat.

The European Union has caved in to angry protests from farmers, cutting its target to scrap specific agricultural emissions which formed part of the bloc’s net zero drive.

A demand to reduce nitrogen, methane and other emissions linked to farming by almost a third has been removed from a wider Brussels plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 90 per cent by 2040.

On Tuesday, Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, offered a further concession to demonstrating farmers by dropping her controversial proposal to halve pesticide use within six years.

A recommendation urging EU citizens to eat less meat was also removed from the plan.

The concessions came amid mounting demonstrations by farmers in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Romania ahead of this year’s EU elections.

The commission has also intended to implement very ambitious rules that would have forced the reduction of pesticide use by 50%. Those plans have also been scrapped.

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