Euro farmers push back against higher taxes, subsidy cuts
German lawmakers approved cuts to farmers’ fuel subsidies this week stoking the fire already burning between farmgate and the halls of government. Farmers in the Netherlands are expressing their anger over the cuts with their own blockades on the highways between Amsterdam and Brussels.
French farmers did start to ease some of their roadblocks after the French government offered money to answer a few of their grievances.
David Miller looks at the issues at hand.
Transcript
European farmers took to their tractors, again, this week, keeping the pressure up in their weeks-long series of protests. At issue are cuts to agricultural fuel subsidies, higher environmental taxes and increased imports of lower cost commodities.
Members of several European farm groups say there is a lack of support for their plight from the European Union Commission in Brussels. In response, the EC announced plans to shield farmers from cheaper imports due to the nearly two-year old Ukrainian war and will allow farmers to use land forced to lie fallow for environmental reasons.
In France, earlier in the week, where the protesting has been particularly disruptive, government officials showered farmers with promises of help, including emergency aid and controls on imported foods.
For Market to Market, I’m David Miller.
Contact: miller@IowaPBS.org