E.U. Rules Will Force Dutch To Ban Livestock FarmingA 2019 court ruling has begun to force Dutch farmers out of business—by design.
BAYLEN LINNEKIN
1.21.2023
Dutch livestock farmers are increasingly outraged and bewildered over a court ruling that has begun to force thousands of them out of the business—by design.
In 2019, the High Council of the Netherlands, the country's supreme judicial authority, ruled* that a 2015 system of permitting new nitrogen-emitting projects by requiring nitrogen offsets failed to meet emission limits agreed to by all European Union members. The High Council ruling responded to the verdict in a 2016 lawsuit that Dutch environmental activists filed before the E.U. Court of Justice, in which the plaintiffs claimed that the Netherlands had failed to protect European Union Natura 2000 zones from nitrogen runoff.
The High Council stopped nearly all new construction permitting in the Netherlands–including farm expansions. Since then, Dutch farmers have been locked in a regulatory battle with the Dutch government over whether the country's incredibly dense animal husbandry sector can continue to be the largest meat exporter in the E.U.
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Source:
https://reason.com/2023/01/21/e-u-rules-will-force-dutch-to-ban-livestock-farming/?itm_source=parsely-api