Netherlands has just released a £21 billion plan to reduce the number of cows, chickens and pigs farmed in the Netherlands by 1/3rd (approximately 30 million animals) due to excess livestock emissions.
The article linked below also says there is similar concerns around ammonia/nitrogen pollution in Germany, Belgium and Denmark which *might* lead them to consider similar action.
Seems really great on the first glance but a few questions I have (in case anyone knows more about this or can speculate reasonably):
Will these animals be displaced to be grown somewhere else instead or is this due to some net reduction in demand in the Netherlands / Europe?
Will enough farmers exit / reduce intensive farming enough voluntarily to have the desired impact?
If not, will they try to make this mandatory? The farming lobby seems strong in most places, including Netherlands, but it seems they’ve done pretty well to get it this far
How easily could we replicate this in other countries? Seems like the UK is also on-track to overshoot ammonia emissions by 20%, amongst the other countries named above
Netherlands has just released a £21 billion plan to reduce the number of cows, chickens and pigs farmed in the Netherlands by 1/3rd (approximately 30 million animals) due to excess livestock emissions.
The article linked below also says there is similar concerns around ammonia/nitrogen pollution in Germany, Belgium and Denmark which *might* lead them to consider similar action.
Seems really great on the first glance but a few questions I have (in case anyone knows more about this or can speculate reasonably):
Will these animals be displaced to be grown somewhere else instead or is this due to some net reduction in demand in the Netherlands / Europe?
Will enough farmers exit / reduce intensive farming enough voluntarily to have the desired impact?
If not, will they try to make this mandatory? The farming lobby seems strong in most places, including Netherlands, but it seems they’ve done pretty well to get it this far
How easily could we replicate this in other countries? Seems like the UK is also on-track to overshoot ammonia emissions by 20%, amongst the other countries named above