Tuesday, October 22, 2019

No Farmer, No Food, No Future

It's a slogan sign I noticed today from the farmer strike on Germany, that had thousands of farm tractors stalling traffic in dozens of cities.

They want less regulation....less government bureaucracy....less guidelines handed down by the environmental crowd.

The affect?  If you watch the video clips, they stalled a lot of urbanized traffic, and triggered at least an hour or two of traffic delays.

The Green Party slant on this?  They offer the opinion that this is all triggered by decades-long lack of governmental policy.  Yes, you can laugh about this 'control' feature that the Greens suggest, but it's their view on the whole thing.

I would offer the opinion that over the past five years....the threats have come almost every other month with a new hyped-up stage of control....either by the EU or the German government itself.  Some of these have involved the public safety of the food supply....some involved safety of the water supply.....some have been over ethical treatment of farm animals.  But all of this has led to problems with the models of business that farmers have relied upon for the past two or three decades. 

There is no great understanding by the political figures in Germany at this point over  agriculture or the economic hardships that farmers face on a yearly basis.  Toss in the drought of 2018 and 2019, the pressures of marketing their products and getting premium prices, and the changing spectrum of grocery shopping....all of these lead to a shaky future.

I expect the strikes and protests to continue. 

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