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June 15, 2023 - Epoch Times
17:21
Government Plan to Kill 200,000 Cows To “Fight Climate Change”
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In order to supposedly save the planet, the government of Ireland is considering a new proposal that would kill off as many as 200,000 dairy cows over the next three years.
You heard that right.
The official narrative in Europe has gotten to the point where...
Cows are seen as such a problem for the climate that government officials in Ireland are seriously working on a plan to kill hundreds of thousands of them in order to meet the country's emission reduction goals.
Now, this particular development was uncovered by a local publication called the Irish Independent.
They used a Freedom of Information request, similar to what we have here in America, to obtain a copy of an internal government document from within the Irish Department of Agriculture.
Specifically, the plan, as it was written, calls for the killing, or as they refer to it as, the culling of 65,000 dairy cows every single year for three full years.
This would, for one, represent about 10% of all the dairy cows in the whole country, and secondly, it will cost the Irish taxpayers a cool 600 million euros, which for your reference works out to be about 648 million U.S. dollars.
And of course, there are many other costs that this proposal fails to consider, such as the cost to generational farmers.
Because if you suddenly find yourself to be a dairy farmer over in Ireland, well, good luck expanding your business, good luck getting any loans from the banks who now see this sector as a really risky business environment, and good luck keeping a profit when the government suddenly kills off 10% of your dairy production cows.
Furthermore, the other factor that this proposal and many other proposals like it fail to take into consideration Is the fact that by culling 10% of a country's dairy cows, all that really means is that the milk, the cheese, the yogurt, the butter, and everything else that's made from them will all just need to be imported.
The Irish people aren't just going to suddenly change their dietary habits on a whim.
And so, if the Irish continue to consume just as much meat and dairy as they did before, then Ireland will simply have to import more of these products from other countries.
Those other countries will then have to increase their dairy cow production to meet this new demand, and so the supposed effect on the planet as a whole remains the same.
Except technically, it's actually worse.
Because now, not only is there still the same amount of dairy being produced on the planet, but also you now have to use trains, trucks, and ships to transport that dairy over to Ireland.
Which adds to the emissions in the total supply chain.
And don't forget, by the way, that Ireland is essentially an island nation.
And so it's not going to be cheap to ship them all that food.
Then subsequently, the food that's on the supermarket store shelves will become more expensive.
Meaning that besides the 600 million euros that the Irish government has earmarked for this particular project, the Irish citizens, the actual Irish taxpayers, will likely be footing the bill many times more than that in the form of increased food prices.
But hey, at the very least, at the end of the day, these government officials can pat themselves on the back and say that they were able to reduce the climate emissions from the dairy sector by 10%.
Very cool.
Regardless, once this government proposal was actually made public, the Department of Agriculture came out and they, you can say, publicly backtracked.
Here's what they said in regards to the report.
And again, this is the Irish Department of Agriculture.
Now, I am, of course, just kidding about that.
However, I do hope that you take a super quick moment to smash those like and subscribe buttons and perhaps even consider leaving a little comment below the video as well in order to tickle the YouTube algorithm and have this vital information reach ever more people.
Now, here's what the Irish Department of Agriculture actually said as a response.
Quote, However, despite still being in the quote-unquote proposal stage, well, Irish farmers are beginning to see the writing on the wall.
It's just as Joe Biden once famously said.
I may be Irish, but I'm not stupid.
And so, along that line, once this proposal was made public, it quickly began to face backlash from Ireland's different farming organizations.
For instance, here's what Mr.
Tim Cullinan, who is the president of the Irish Farmers Association, here's what he said in response to the government proposal.
Quote, reports like this only serve to further fuel the view that the government is working behind the scenes to undermine our dairy and livestock sectors.
Likewise, you have Mr.
Pat McCormick, who is the president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, point out the hypocrisy of the government being so focused on livestock while ignoring the aviation industry.
Here's what he said, quote, And just as a small aside, what he said in that statement should be taken in its proper context.
Ireland is experiencing an absolute surge in private jet use.
According to the latest research, the use of private jets in Ireland more than doubled in the year 2022 compared to the prior year, meaning that in order to supposedly fight climate change, the Irish government won't be touching the private jets, but they will consider killing off 10% of the Irish farmers' dairy cows and then have the corresponding price of meat, cheese, milk, yogurt, and so on go to the moon.
Now, of course, it is worth mentioning that while this specific case is happening in Ireland, this is actually just part of a larger green agenda that's being implemented across all of the European Union.
And that agenda is, you can say, gaining massive traction.
For instance, in what can only be described as a real shocking development, The European Union recently released a new policy document, you can see it up on your screen, which officially earmarked 1.5 billion euros in order to start the process of buying out the land from Dutch farmers.
And for your reference, by the way, 1.5 billion euros is about 1.6 billion US dollars.
But it gets even wilder, because within this policy document, it states that any farmer who sells their farm to the government in the Netherlands is no longer allowed to farm anywhere, not only within the Netherlands, but anywhere within the European Union.
However, before we actually dig into the details of this document, let me back up for a quick second and set the stage for you properly regarding what exactly is happening here.
To start with, by now I'm sure that many of you are well aware of the crisis that the farmers in the Netherlands are currently facing.
Because unlike Ireland, which is just beginning to go down this road, over in the Netherlands...
The government there has, for months now, been working on a plan that would force farmers to give up their businesses, including their generational land, land that's been in their family for generations.
The reason has to do with, essentially, the real-world application of globalist policies.
The Dutch government is abiding by the European Union's regulations which stipulate in great, very minute detail how much nitrogen can be emitted.
This is, of course, bad news for the farmers, since farming generates nitrogen naturally through the interaction of the animals, the land, and the food.
Now, in and of itself, it's worth mentioning that the emission of nitrogen is not really a problem.
In fact, if you've ever grown a garden in your own home, then you know that nitrogen is needed in order to properly fertilize whatever it is you're growing.
And the farms, such as the dairy farms over in the Netherlands, are actually a great source of nitrogen for the local community.
When the manure and the urine from a cow or a pig mix together, they form a powerful fertilizer called ammonia.
And so you would assume that this is great news for the local environment, since it provides natural fertilizer for the local vegetation.
However, under the European Union's so-called Natura 2000 plan, 160 different sites throughout the country of the Netherlands have been designated as what they refer to as nature preserves that have to be maintained in the exact condition that they're currently at.
Basically, these Natura 2000 zones have to maintain the exact species of plants and animals that they had in the year 2000.
It's like basically they took a snapshot of nature and they said, hey, this is the way it has to stay forever.
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And in order to achieve this stated goal, the nitrogen emissions surrounding these Natura 2000 sites have to be dropped significantly, because too much nitrogen fertilizer would cause different types of plants to flourish.
And therefore, It would change what the bureaucrats over in the European Union consider to be quote-unquote nature.
Then what this means in practice is that if you happen to be a farmer who's too close to one of these environmentally protected sites, you could either be completely forced to stop and close down shop, or you can be forced to reduce your operation by up to 95%.
In fact, last year, when I was in the Netherlands speaking to the farmers who are being affected by these policies, I met one farmer named Martin, and here's what he told me about his situation.
The government set out of the blue new regulations for the agriculture in Holland and they are so extreme, like I have to reduce for 95% in my number of cows.
And so I can run a farm on 5%.
So that means for me it's over and done with.
I have to sell it.
And due of the regulations, I can't sell it to anybody.
Nobody wants to buy it.
Yeah, the government wants to buy it.
And that's why they set those regulations, I think.
The regulations that they're pushing right now to reduce the number of nitrogen, it would make it so, if they pass, your farm here, you would have to reduce your level of nitrogen by 95%.
So, I mean, besides getting rid of all your cows, how else can you do it?
Is there any other way?
There's no other way.
There's no other way.
However, since that interview with Martin, there's actually been a, you can say, fairly major twist to the story.
That's because up until now, many of the farmers I spoke to were under the impression that as bad as the situation was, even if they have to lose their farm in the Netherlands, they might lose their farm, but they can still move and start over again in another European country, like somewhere in Germany, in France, or even in Belgium.
Now, rationally, this would make sense because the Dutch government, at least according to their messaging, is claiming that the reason they need to get rid of these farmers is because they happen to be close to these nature preserves, these Natura 2000 areas.
And so the farmers naturally thought that if they move their dairy farm operation to somewhere far away from the protected areas, such as to a different European country altogether, well, that would be fine.
It's not ideal, but then at least the Dutch government can have their precious nature preserves exactly the way they want them, and the farmers can start fresh somewhere else.
However, the farmers have just learned that this is actually not the case.
That's because about a month ago, the European Commission, which is basically the most powerful political organ in the European Union, released a new policy document.
You can see it up on screen for yourself.
And within this document, they presented the farmers with what you can really call a difficult choice.
Because on the one hand, the European Commission approved nearly 1.5 billion euros to buy out the Dutch farmers.
With this deal, And so,
And so, okay, losing your family farm obviously hurts, but getting a premium payout from the government above market rate seems like a tempting offer.
However, this deal comes with a bit of a catch.
And not only is it a big catch, but also it gives the game away a little bit.
Because according to the European Commission, if these Dutch farmers actually agree to sell their property to the government, they forfeit their right to ever start farming again, quote, elsewhere in the Netherlands or within the EU. You heard that right.
If you happen to be a Dutch farmer, And you decide to sell your land to the government, you can never start another farm again.
Not only in the Netherlands, but more importantly, not anywhere in Europe.
You would have to move to somewhere in Africa, in America, in Australia, or even to Eastern Europe if you want to start farming ever again.
So obviously that sounds like a hard choice.
But because it's the government, it's really no choice at all.
That's because if you are a farmer and you choose to not voluntarily sell your land to the government now, it really doesn't matter.
Because...
Well, the government has the power to seize your land in the future, in which case, good luck getting any money at all.
You can get a premium today, or perhaps later, you will get nothing.
And this is exactly the difficult choice that farmers over in the Netherlands are currently facing.
The Netherlands, by the way, just as an aside, is one of the world's largest exporters of food items.
And so this obviously isn't just a problem within the country, but also it's a problem for all the other people in the other countries who import their food from Holland.
However, fear not, because the trusty European Commission has thought of a solution.
In their policy document, they say that even though a Dutch farmer who sells their land cannot restart farming elsewhere, it doesn't rule out someone else who can.
Here's what the European Commission wrote.
Meaning, That while Dutch farmers are forced to sell their land and sign away their rights to ever farm again, well, the EU will allow new farmers under the ambiguous label of being environmentally friendly to take their spots.
Now, what exactly that means isn't exactly clear.
It could mean anything from vertical farming all the way over to insect farming.
Which would fall quite neatly in line with the European Commission recently approving two new insects to be recognized officially as food.
However, you should not be worried about being forced to eat the bugs, because according to German state-run media, quote, the European Commission's decision to approve two new insects as food does not appear to be part of a push to change diets, though it's said that the consumption of insects contributes positively to the environment and to health and livelihoods.
Now, it is worth mentioning that the European Union has been gracious enough to give the Dutch farmers nearly a full year to think it over.
They have until February 27th of next year to decide whether they will be selling their land voluntarily or not.
And so I'm sure many Dutch farmers are, well, weighing their options.
If you'd like to go deeper into this policy document from the European Commission or into this proposal from Ireland, I'll throw all those links down into the description box below this video for you to check out.
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I'm your host, Roman from the Epoch Times.
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