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90% of the food produced here is exported. This tiny country is the second biggest food exporter on the planet... The result is that our nature is destroyed, an
by Avalaxy 4y ago
90% of the food produced here is exported. This tiny country is the second biggest food exporter on the planet... The result is that our nature is destroyed, and that we can't build any more houses to solve our massive housing crisis.
- carlosjobim 4y agoThat seems like creative accounting. A lot of food is refined in Holland for export, but the raw material isn't necessarily grown there.
- 28304283409234 4y agoSource?
- carlosjobim 4y agoChocolate for example.
- WeylandYutani 4y agoYes beef is technically homegrown but the stuff that cows eat is imported from Brasil. Dutch farming is not self sustaining.
- RandomLensman 4y agoIs there no land to build on left as everything is agriculture?
- consp 4y agoEvery cm2 has been allocated and changing it will take something away to be replaced by something else, either water as land, agriculture as houses or any other flow you can imagine (and they all have been done).
- RandomLensman 4y agoIf people have nowhere to live some non-farm land could be reallocated - but, yes, sure it'd be a fight.
- yourusername 4y agoNo it's a legal problem. The Netherlands decided it would be a great idea to have 150+ nature preserves in one of the most densely populated countries in the world. European law requires the Netherlands to protect these areas from nitrogen deposition (NOx, NH3). A Dutch judge declared the Netherlands has to comply with this European law so now no activity that causes any nitrogen deposition can get a permit even if building houses is less than 1% of NO2/NH3 emissions. It's a mess created by a government 20 years ago.
- RandomLensman 4y agoThat would sound like a fixable policy problem by changing laws etc.
- consp 4y agoUnfortunately those laws are European and we do not have much to say about it anymore since the government wanted to milk the Natura2000 subsidies (sidenote they also went to farmers).
- mistrial9 4y agoif your situation is anything like the USA - those payments went to corporate farms, not family farms.
- mcv 4y agoIf you put it like that, less agriculture in such a densely populated country doesn't sound like such a bad idea. But you're absolutely right; it's a mess that has been left to fester for far too long. A previous law, that was struck down, allowed farms to expand on the assumption that those expansions would at some later time result in less nitrogen. That of course didn't happen, but massive farm expansions have been driven through that loophole. Farmers have also been misled by banks wanted to fund those irresponsible expansions.
- ralfn 4y agoEven with all the agricultural lands Netherlands is one of the most densely populated countries. The issue is that our the lack of cheap land actually made our agricultural sector very competitive. They need high yields to be viable, so they made the investments (equipment, r&d) to have extremely high yields. More than 80℅ ends up being exported.
- cjbgkagh 4y agoThat would mean they are making other countries food cheaper as well.
- woile 4y agoThey have crippled many countries ability to produce food, see documentary: "Tomatoes and greed – the exodus of Ghana's farmers" Probably cheaper for some in the short term, but it means less food security, and potential growth
- mcv 4y agoThe real problem is how agriculture is being subsidised. I'm not sure how it currently is, but for a long time, it was simply production that was subsidised, leading to excessive overproduction, which was then dumped below market prices on the African market, driving farmers there out of business. Instead, these subsidies should be tied to sustainable agriculture. Support farmers by rewarding them for a cleaner, more sustainable business. Instead, many of these subsidies have gone to massive industrialised polluting megafarms.
- peterashford 4y agoIf these were staple foods, that would be a concern - like the effect of Ukraine's wheat exports to Africa. Other countries not getting as much Dutch cheese is not the same kind of issue at all.
- nradov 4y agoThat's not accurate. Netherlands is only the sixth biggest food exporter. They are second in the EU. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-american-food-giant-the-largest-exporter-of-food-in-the-world.html https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-american-food-giant-...
- mcv 4y agoI think Netherland is the second largest agricultural exporter by value, but I suspect that includes flowers, and isn't just limited to food.
- nradov 4y agoYes, that's correct. But the comment I replied to specifically mentioned food. The nitrogen emissions policy at issue here primarily impacts livestock and not flowers.
- foepys 4y agoFor a country of slightly less than 18 million people this is still mighty impressive.
- holoduke 4y agoOur nature is not destroyed. That's what the left city people say who never leave their cities. There is also plenty of room to build. But those same people want their children to grow up next to their cities. Thats not gonna happen. Enough room in other provinces. Another problem is mass immigration. Millions entered our country in the last 30 years.
- 28304283409234 4y agoSource?
- peterashford 4y agoCan you let us know how you do industrial scale dairy without pollution then, because it sure causes pollution everywhere else in the world
- t0mas88 4y agoEnvironmental impact is a scientific fact, while both of your claims are lies often coming from the FvD side of things. Look up the official numbers before you blindly repeat "millions entered the country". Because millions also left the country. The balance was below zero in the first part of this century. Has only been significantly above zero last year, and was small in many other years.