Europe's farms 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

(?Kerry's remark is curious, since more CO2 means more green plants to feed people.)

European Union has a plan to severely cut down greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by the year 2040. It includes policies to limit what farmers can do, how they run their business, including both livestock and crops.

Farmers all over Europe have been dramatically protesting to tell them that the plan must change. They have won over various groups. One of them wrote to the EU saying, “The root of the problem is clear: the majority of farmers simply cannot make a living from their work. They are trapped in a system that is killing them.”

photo

Worried that a lot of voters are going to express their anger in the election coming next summer, the president of the EU made some changes to the plan this week:

• a recommendation to citizens to eat less meat was dropped
• a requirement to cut pesticide use by half was dropped
• a requirement to cut nitrogen, methane, and other emissions by a third was dropped

Apparently the farmers made enough noise.

from The Telegraph