RAGEM, Belgium (AP) — On his farm in northern Belgium, not far from hundreds of tractors blocking Europe’s second-largest port to demand respect for farmers, Bart Dossie is sitting on his computer. I turned it on and waited for the government program to load. A map of his land sat next to an empty digital box, asking him to fill in statistics on fertilizers, pesticides, production, and harvests.
“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.
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. It 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 European Union.
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,” he 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 (euro) pumped into a vast network of programs that touch agriculture in a variety of ways every 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.
Once Dossie has finished processing 900 pigs and about 30 hectares (74 acres) of corn and potatoes, he swaps his blue overalls and rubber boots for a three-piece suit. He is also the mayor of Redeghem, a farming community 120 kilometers (70 miles) 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. Still, with 2024 bookkeeping, he says, “I would have been kicked out of 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.”
Mr Dossie said he often heard from dozens of farmers in town that fines for a single wrong click of the mouse could amount to hundreds of euros. The same story comes up in every peasant protest – Italian, French, Dutch, Spanish.
Farmers blocked roads around the Belgian port of Antwerp, Europe’s second-largest, for most of the day Tuesday. The unrest followed earlier protests at the port 60 kilometers (40 miles) north of Ledegem and across the country, resulting in tens of millions of euros in damages in transit delays and damaged goods.
What really frustrates Dochy is when bureaucratic deadlines are imposed, such as having to sow certain crops or green fertilizers by September 1st.
“If there is incredible rain in the last week of August, you will not be able to sow properly. But you still have an obligation to sow, otherwise you will be fined. “It’s possible,” he said.
“In fact, farmers live in a conflict between a government that wants to be responsible and nature, which is still responsible. And you can’t actually change anything about nature,” Dossie said. .
Rules also change rapidly, making it increasingly difficult to invest wisely, Dossey said. In northern Belgium, these issues coalesce around nitrate pollution from agriculture and the rules to contain it.
Years of political wrangling and court challenges have left no clear picture of what the future holds.
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 popularly renamed Mesto (Fertilizer) Flanders, rather than West Flanders, because parts of Dochy were so smelly.
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 farmers loud and clear. We know your struggle. And politicians need to do better!” Sefcovic said.