The “European Green Deal”
announced late last year,
calls for the continent
to become “climate neutral”
by 2050.
The commission speaks of
“turning climate and
environmental challenges
into opportunities.”
It also talks about
“making the transition just
and inclusive for all.”
It should have
added three words:
“except for farmers.”
That’s because the EU
Commission just released
its “Farm to Fork” strategy,
which is the agricultural
portion of the European
Green Deal.
It announces a series
of unrealistic goals:
In the next decade,
farmers are supposed
to slash the use of
crop-protection products
by half, cut fertilizer use
by 20%, and transform
one quarter of farmland
into organic production.
None of this is supposed
to disrupt anybody’s dinner.
What the European
Commission proposes
is smaller harvests,
which will lead to
higher food prices.
How are farmers
supposed to make a living
when growing fewer crops
and selling less food?
When farmers can’t
earn a profit, they’ll
quit farming, and
smaller harvests
will shrink even further.
Where will the EU food
come from -- import
more food from
other places?
The goal should be
to grow more food
on less land.
Yet the EU wants to
grow less food
on more land.
What’s “green”
about that?
The European Green Deal
seems to assume that
farmers are the foes
of conservation.