Analysis
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Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark RutteGetty Images

(LifeSiteNews) — With the May 3 approval of a €1.5 billion scheme to buy out Dutch farmers, the EU has signaled its intention to go through with the forcible closure of up to 3,000 Dutch farms.

The funds, provided by the Dutch government with EU support, are intended to finance the purchase of Dutch farms from their owners. In line with the goals of the European Green Deal, it is a move intended to reduce the total number of meat-producing livestock with the goal of reducing nitrogen output.

Despite the success of the Dutch Farmer Citizen (BBB) party in the March elections, their majority is in the Senate, leaving Parliament still under the control of World Economic Forum favorite Mark Rutte.

The current Politico poll has them at a record 32 percent, however – 12 points clear of Rutte’s party. It is a strong sign that in the Netherlands, the government is pursuing policies contrary to the will of the people.

You cannot eat money

The EU-approved measures taken by the Dutch government resemble a desperate measure to claw back support – for a deeply unpopular policy.

After months of protests both in the Netherlands and in Belgium, it appears the Rutte regime has now resorted to attempted bribery.

According to the European Commission report published on May 2:

Under the €500 million LBV scheme, the aid will take the form of direct grants to compensate up to 100% of the losses incurred by farmers who decide to close their dairy cattle, pig and poultry breeding sites.

The remaining €975 million of the money is aimed at farmers with the biggest meat output – who will be offered more than the value of their business in order to stop farming forever.

As regards the loss of production capacity, under the LBV plus scheme, the farmers concerned may receive up to 120% as compensation.

Under the schemes, the beneficiaries guarantee that the closure of their production capacity is definitive and irreversible, and that they will not start the same breeding activity elsewhere in the Netherlands or within the EU.

A gap in the market

The Netherlands is at present the world’s second-largest food exporter. This from an agricultural sector which is overwhelmingly composed of farms owned by one family.

As Euronews reported on May 3:

Nearly €1.5 billion will be used to compensate farmers who voluntarily close farms located near nature reserves. Some 3,000 farms are expected to be eligible.

The Dutch ruling coalition wants to cut emissions, predominantly nitrogen oxide and ammonia, by 50 per cent nationwide by 2030.

Dramatically cutting food production in the Netherlands will have a serious effect on world food supply, including that of affordable meat. The plight of Dutch farmers is so grave, however, that some feel the E.U. measures may well succeed – where persuasion and force have failed.

Building on misery

The EU-inspired scheme is touted as a means of preserving the environment. Yet a recent interview with Dutch MEP Robert Roos suggests a far darker agenda which is driving Dutch farmers to extinction. Roos recently addressed a National Conservatism conference in Brussels, Belgium, calling for cooperation between conservatives in a time of crisis.

Speaking to Remix News on May 16, Roos explained why he fears many farmers may be tempted to take the money and run.

[I]f you are desperate and don’t know what to do anymore, and you’re facing uncertainty year after year, then the government turns around and says, ‘OK, we have a way out for you, we have money to give you.’

I think a lot of farms will do that, which is a disaster because they are the second-largest producer of food in the world after the United States.

Roos’ remarks come after a series of reported suicides amongst Dutch farmers. What is more, he claims the scheme is “green” in name only, with the real objective the seizure of valuable land for development.

We’ve already seen it, and it’s not a rumor, it’s just a fact. They bought the land of a farmer, and they built temporary houses for immigrants on it. This is one year ago, but it’s not even a rumor.

Unfortunately, if you had said that two years ago, they would respond to you that you are a conspiracy theorist, but now it’s just fact. And I think that of course they want to have the land and they want to build more houses. That’s why they used also this nitrogen issue, which is really crazy.

Roos contends that the purchase of vast areas of farmland are earmarked for government and corporate-funded development, whilst new legislation means Dutch citizens will be forbidden from building anything for themselves. With the population rising from 15 to 18 million from the 1990s, the EU’s open border policy is creating vast demand for everything, including food – and housing.

But now we have the EU Nature Restoration Law coming up. And we will vote on that before the summer, in the (EU) parliament; if this law is adopted, our complete country (the Netherlands) will be locked to new development.

We will not be able to build houses anymore, we cannot even build wind turbines anymore, which is, from my perspective, a good thing. But overall, our country will be closed.

Roos says that the whole narrative is based on lies. Not only is the regime promoting a collapse in the food supply, but they aim to purchase and confiscate land to house a rapidly expanding population.

Of course, it’s hypocritical, and they are pretending. But it’s also just the case that facts don’t matter.

It’s not about arguments, it’s about ideology.

Roos remarks that the debate is policed by the use of slurs, making honest mention of the facts impossible.

If you say that we need more energy because we will have more people – that renewables may not pan out the way they assume they will – then you’re a climate denier. If you say we have to stop this illegal immigration, you’re again, a racist.

If you point out that breaking the food supply chain will be catastrophic – and exacerbated by unlimited immigration – you are a conspiracy theorist. Thankfully, the Dutch are fighting back.

A global struggle

Finally, as recent Catholic convert Eva Vlaardingerbroek warned last year, John Kerry wants to bring forced farm closures to the U.S.

After the Biden administration’s “climate czar” addressed the AIM for Climate Summit, which was held in Washington D.C. May 8 through 10, he said:

A lot of people have no clue that agriculture contributes about 33% of all the emissions of the world.

We can’t get to net-zero, we don’t get this job done unless agriculture is front and center as part of the solution. So all of us understand here the depths of this mission.

He noted that small farms are significant emitters of nitrogen, as he advanced the case for a U.S. federal government attack on farmers to mimic that planned in the EU. Yet Kerry’s planned actions against U.S. farmers have not gone unchallenged.

Kerry has been accused of “taking actions which could undermine the economic health of the USA and threatening congressional authority,” according to a recent Fox News report.

The threat to the livelihood of ordinary people is an issue which is now both local and global. So is the fightback.

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