On his farm in northern Belgium, not far from hundreds of tractors blocking Europe’s second-largest port to demand respect for farmers, Bert Dossie turns on his computer and says, I was waiting for a map of my land near the vacant lot to be loaded into the government program. The digital box requires you to fill in statistics about fertilizers, pesticides, production, and harvest.
“They are also using satellite imagery and even drones to monitor us,” Dochy said.
His dissatisfaction is widespread between European farmers and the European farmers as a nanny nation inspecting every nook and cranny of their barns and analyzing how every drop of liquid fertilizer is spread, trust. This highlights a yawning gap in understanding.
Photo: Associated Press
In recent weeks, tens of thousands of farmers and their supporters have taken part in protests across Europe, from Greece to Ireland, the Baltics to Spain. This was enough to put the plight of farmers on front pages across the continent and make it a key theme in parliamentary elections to be held from June 6 to 9 in the 27-nation EU.
Farmers have always lived according to the whims of nature. However, capricious regulations are unacceptable.
“That’s what creates this level of mistrust. It’s like living in Russia or China instead of the fertile plains of Flanders in northwest Belgium,” Dossie said.
Farmers have a lot to complain about, from poorly regulated cheap imports to overbearing environmental rules, but everyone was almost immediately outraged by a series of bureaucratic practices.
But the EU is also the hand that feeds them, with around 50 billion euros (US$53.7 billion) pumped into a vast network of programs that touch agriculture in a variety of ways each year.
Instead, farmers have to account for their spending, and the burden of doing so is increasing.
Mr. Dochy, 51, is a far cry from the angry militant farmers who set fire to hay bales and sprayed government buildings with fertilizer. In his office, which is as essential to the life of today’s EU farmers as the barn, there is a sign warning: “God is watching – no curses will be tolerated here.”
He comes from generations of traditional farmers, conservative Christian Democrats who have traditionally been the backbone of European agriculture.
After processing 900 pigs and 30 hectares of corn or potatoes, Dossey swaps his blue overalls and rubber boots for a three-piece suit. He is also the mayor of Redeghem, a farming community 120 kilometers west of Brussels. This is where much of the EU’s hated agricultural bureaucracy comes from.
Over his morning coffee, his father, France Docy, 82, recalled how, as a young man, he would spend hours harvesting beets by hand through the cold, thick soil.
But with current bookkeeping, he says, “they would have been kicked off the farm a long time ago.”
He saw how his son had to register the arrival of artificial fertilizer within seven days.
“Of course, it has to be done even during the busiest times on the field,” Bart Dossey said.
“Then we have to record exactly how each small piece of land is being sprayed, how many kilometres, and how,” he says, pointing to several thick folders in his office. He explained as he examined it. “And even the slightest mistake results in a fine.”
Bart Dossie said he often heard from dozens of farmers in the town that fines for just the wrong click of a mouse could amount to hundreds of euros.
The same story comes up in every peasant protest – Italian, French, Dutch, Spanish.
What really frustrates Bart Dossey is when bureaucratic deadlines are imposed, such as whether certain crops or green fertilizers need to be sown by September 1st.
“If we have incredible rain in the last week of August, we won’t be able to sow properly, but we still have an obligation to sow. If we don’t, we could be fined.” he said.
“In reality, farmers live in a conflict between a government that wants to be responsible and nature, which is still responsible. In fact, you can’t change anything about nature,” said Bart Dossey. Ta.
Rules also change rapidly, making it increasingly difficult to invest wisely, he said.
But EU officials say stricter regulations are needed after decades of lax regulations. In the past, soil pollution was widespread due to excessive fertilizer dumping into gutters and rivers. Decades ago, the department was generally renamed Mesto (Fertilizer) Flanders, rather than West Flanders, due to the bad odor that permeated parts of Bad Dossy.
Farms needed to thoroughly check whether they were spending their subsidies correctly.
But now the pendulum has swung the other way. After years of piling on ever more complex rules, politicians realized they may have gone too far.
“Our farmers continue to face major challenges,” European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic told EU parliamentarians this week, making sure to mention “administrative requirements”.
“We hear the voices of farmers loud and clear. We recognize your suffering and politicians need to do better,” Sefcovic said.
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