“Sure, organic agriculture is sustainable: it sustains poverty and malnutrition.”
Taken from an article by Matt Ridley, on the self-imposed agricultural disaster of Sri Lanka, caused by the government’s suppression of artificial fertilisers in preference for more “organic” methods.
As Ridley concludes in his article: “If the world abandoned nitrogen fertiliser that was fixed in factories, the impact on human living standards would be catastrophic, but so would the impact on nature. Given that half the nitrogen atoms in the average person’s body were fixed in an ammonia factory rather than a plant, to feed eight billion people with organic methods we would need to put more than twice as much land under the plough and the cow. That would consign most of the world’s wetlands, nature reserves and forests to oblivion.”
In Holland, farmers have been protesting the Dutch government’s plans to cut nitrogen emissions.
It seems that “educated” and “well-informed” people the world over want to reverse a truly “Green revolution”, driven by new fertilisers, seed varieties and agricultural technology. And all the while doing so when Ukraine, one of the world’s most important exporters of wheat, sunflower oil and other important products, is being attacked.
I am searching in vain to find much reflection about any of this from those folk running to be next leader of the Conservative Party.
Someone, sadly I forget whom, PBUH posted on this blog, perhaps a couple of years ago, a comment about the Left to the effect of ‘They hate us and they want to kill us.’.
He was right.
The usual suspects at the WEF were touting Sri Lanka’s move to organic farming back in 2018, but given the most recent lessons from that country, all the original reports, posts and articles seem to have become “mislaid”.
The WEF questioned after deleted Sri Lanka PM article is recovered by Wayback Machine
The so called âeducatedâ and âwell-informedâ people over at WEF seem keen to decouple their lack of success from similar efforts in Europe and Canada where different wrappers are used to hide the same tired old tropes of environmentalism and sustainability.
The problem with the farmers in Western Europe is they aren’t quite so naive, nor as trusting of government as the Sri Lankans were back in 2018 and have even less qualms about taking to the streets to protect their livelihoods, since the NL government demand is to essentially wipe out 1/3rd of all agricultural land with more to follow.
Quite frankly they might as well tear down the dykes and let the sea take them rather than the government.
We’ve moved on since then, they no longer “want” to kill us, they plan to do so. The only thing which has frustrated them is their own incompetence and the (often delayed) response of the proletariat (see EU farmers and Sri Lanka).
The so-called democratic institutions that are meant to protect against this sort of abuse have opened their doors wide (albeit in secret) and the media only points out the abuses of the right, not the left.
Despite these setbacks they will continue to push on until either we are dead or they are swinging from lamp posts. It’s the only way this thing ends.
Kemi is the only one of them not pledging her allegiance to NetZero and this is all part of that.
Take the case of the Netherlands.
People there do not lack the money for fertilisers.
And no one seriously claims that “nitrogen” is a big “Green House Gas”.
So, Johnathan Pearce, WHAT IS GOING ON?
Why are WEF people such as the Prime Minister of the Netherlands waging war against their own people?
If is clear that “Climate Change” is NOT the motivation (see above) – so what is the motivation?
In the Netherlands, they claim that excessive nitrogen and farm runoff pollute the water.
That may well be the case, minimizing pollution is a worthy goal. The question is quantitative: how much pollution can be tolerated in order to keep up Dutch meat exports.
Jacob – we both know their motivation is not environmental.
This is about getting Dutch farmers off-the-land. So the land can be turned over to the government and allied Corporations, for housing projects and other such. Although some land is also to be “rewilded”.
Agenda 2030.
The Prime Minister of the Netherlands does not give a damn about ordinary people – and, sadly, he is not unusual in his attitudes among Western rulers.
Too often their loyalty is to the “international rules based liberal order” (with the word “liberal” having been turned on its head – this is not liberalism as Gladstone would have understood the term).
Please do not dignify these rulers by taking their claims at face value.
Well, housing projects are also worthy goals.
I firmly believe that, as Neil Oliver mentioned (unable to attach the video to this), whoever becomes the next Conservative Prime Minister, will be given a script, and possibly a time scale, from the WEF/Gates/Schwab/Fauci/Soros conglomerates, for them to follow. The words they will use will be meaningless as the meanings constantly change to fit in with the Great Reset, so that we can Build Back Better. Gates suggested that 500 million people would be the ideal population for this planet, presumably the rest having to die for the greater good. The actions of heads of governments are, I would suggest, to ensure, or hope, that they and their families will be among that 500 million and part of the elite making the decisions that will give them an ideal life and lifestyle. How many vaccinated women are suddenly discovering they have miscarriages, or men realising they are infertile, and TPTB want, or even demand, that these unknown chemicals are given to children?
SoT, there is an episode of the sci fi tv programme Stargate, where ‘friendly’ aliens live on earth, providing new technology, then it is discovered that the only children born are offspring of these ‘friendly’ aliens. Is this where Gates and his fellow criminals got their idea, so that only the elite, and a measured number of worker drones, have children?
I’m coming to the end of my days so the future won’t affect me that much. It is my children and grandchildren, and yours, that I am concerned for.
Kemi is the only one of them not pledging her allegiance to NetZero and this is all part of that.
I hope she wins, if only for the exploding brains this will cause in certain quarters.
Jacob, minimising pollution, if that is the goal, should be a matter left to private enterprise. Wasting nitrogen is, after all, wasting a valuable resource. Profit-maximising businesses want to cut waste – there is no need for the State to get involved at all. If there are concerns about “negative externalities” caused by nitrogen leeching into water systems and causing a problem, then perhaps a sort of Pigouvian tax makes sense, within very strict limits. What the Dutch state is proposing seems much more severe.
Here is an excellent NYPost article which i read a few days ago. (Via Instapundit, i believe.)
In support of Johnathan’s comment, the article says that Dutch farmers have become very efficient in their use of fertilizers, using the same amount in decades, while doubling yields.
Unlike Paul Marks đ the article is fair to Mark Rutte, however:
Also:
If you ask me, it makes no sense for such a small and crowded country to be the 2nd largest agri.exporter. The question is how to reduce the agri.sector without pain to the farmers. One possible solution might be to provide incentives for Dutch farmers to move abroad and employ their skill in using fertilizers in less-crowded parts of the world. Sri Lanka might be a good place to start.
Badenoch’s knuckled under.
Snorri I will be “fair” to Mark Rutte when he stops playing with Klaus Schwab.
Eff off they are when it involves forcing people off their land under colour of law.
Only two words there are actually necessary.
From the Wall Street Journal: Do Western leaders recognize or care that their climate monomania is endangering living standards in democracies and empowering authoritarians? Historian Arnold Toynbee argued that civilizations die from suicide, not murder. The Westâs climate self-destruction may prove him right.
“Fair” enough đ
Once again: concerns about nitrogen pollution have nothing to do with climate.
Agreed Snorri – it has nothing to do with climate.
And everything to do with forcing people off their land.
In the United States if there is water on your land (and try running a farm or ranch without water) then the Federal Government under Mr Obama decided that made “your land” their concern – President Trump stopped that Collectivisation-by-stealth, but it will be back now.
The same idea – gain control of the land, for the government and connected corporations, as in land-use plans and the rest of Agenda 2030.
“forcing people off their land.”
Seems that “forcing people off their land” is not what is proposed by the Dutch government.
Rather it is forcing people to reduce their nitrogen runoff that is spilling from their land into public waters that are not theirs and they have no right to pollute.
I have no idea if these new regulations are good or bad, or excessive, or just reasonable. They might be good.
In the matter of private enterprises getting rid of their waste (the cheap way) by dropping it into the public domain – government action might be required to stop it.
Jacob: nitrogen is expensive and increasingly so. Why would farmers want to waste any of it?
Proposed? No, but that’s the absolute effect of it.
Sure, but since the only way to do that is to force the farmer to reduce his livestock to unsustainable levels or move elsewhere that it is not such a problem, you are, again EFFECTIVELY “forcing people off their land” or “forcing farmers to cease economic farming”.
An incremental approach of the government buying out farms where farmers are at retirement age and their sons don’t want to be involved in the business (pretty common) would have been a better way of doing it, but would result in changes happening far too slowly for the 2030 or NetZero crowds.
Looks like we’re going to have to go through another NL government collapse and then reformation of a new government with the same bloody constituent parties.
No real hope for NL until they get rid of Rutte and the WEF ass kissers and replace them genuine new blood.
*Personal interest declaration* – I was a former consultant at NL agribusiness Nutreco in Boxmeer, NL.
Re
I am searching in vain to find much reflection about any of this from those folk running to be next leader of the Conservative Party.
By example:
https://thenationalpulse.com/2022/07/16/company-founded-family-of-uk-prime-minister-frontrunner-is-wef-partner-advocating-for-china-style-digital-identities-currency/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
For those that were happy to see the back of Boris, be careful what you wish for.
Guido’s version:
https://order-order.com/2022/07/15/chinas-propaganda-wing-comes-out-for-pragmatic-rishi/
“Jacob: nitrogen is expensive and increasingly so. Why would farmers want to waste any of it?”
They don’t waste it. They use it productively to enhance their income from farming. The pollution is a by-product of this activity.
I don’t know the details.
Still, it’s possible that the regulations are needed to protect the environment (to prevent water source poisoning).
I suspect that those who see just a scheme to deprive farmers of their rights for a nebulous WEF purpose are carried away by their ideology, and have not really studied the facts of the case.
They use it productively to enhance their income from farming. The pollution is a by-product of this activity.
Then, as I said in a comment above but repeat here: “If there are concerns about ânegative externalitiesâ caused by nitrogen leeching into water systems and causing a problem, then perhaps a sort of Pigouvian tax makes sense, within very strict limits. What the Dutch state is proposing seems much more severe, from what I can see.”
The way things are going, being able to produce sufficient crops to feed people is going to be a rather more urgent concern than whether the the “pollution” caused by nitrates in the soil is causing issues. I don’t play these down – I read that in the river basin of the Mississipi, there is a problem. The question is whether people want to dramatically cut production to reduce the pollution. And given how a large chunk of the world’s food supply is going to be hit by Russia’s criminality in Ukraine, and the knock-on impact on fertiliser production, etc, the actions of the Dutch government appear to be foolish, to be polite about it.
It’s not just a matter of limits, of course, but also of gradual introduction.
Years ago, Julie near Chicago made a sensible criticism of real estate taxes: your area can be deemed higher value and taxed at a higher rate at any time.
The same problem applies to Pigouvian taxes, AND agricultural subsidies: the former can be imposed at any time, the latter can be revoked at any time. Farmers, like other businessmen, need a minimum of predictability from government.
Unlike some economists I don’t believe that a new tax is the solution to any problem. So, no new taxes, whatever fancy name you apply. If you want to stop or reduce nitrogen pollution – then go ahead and do it.
And the Dutch may have a point – reduce world hunger? Yes, but not at our expense (polluted water).
Back in the benighted 1970’s, the “big one” in the agricultural / pollutant “pantheon was phosphates.
Given the terminal cretinism and mendacity of the degenerates, if it contained “phosphates” it was an unspeakable evil.
How a sentient creature could group “organo-phosphates ” (found in a LOT of detergents) and bird droppings, is just an other indicator of how terminally corrupt both the LSM and academia have been since at least the 1960’s.
The current crop of vermin are, with malice aforethought, conflating the gas than makes up almost EIGHTY percent of the planet’s atmosphere, and “fixed” nitrogen as found in soils and ESSENTIAL for plant growth. There is an entire family of plants whose primary function is to FIX Nitrogen into the soil that OTHER plants may use it. It is GLOBAL practice that these Nitrogen-fixing Legumes are ploughed in as preparation for a different crop.
And just for giggles, Legumes themselves actually need help from a common bacteria called Rhizobium.
The eco-nazis are a DEATH CULT. They want REAL people DEAD or enslaved, PERIOD. They have NO higher purpose.
Jacob, the problem is that if everyone takes your view, the hunger is what we get. Holland exports a lot of agricultural produce.
You don’t like taxes or ways to price pollution, but the iron fist of the State – just to ban X or Y, and screw the consequences – is absurd.