The Netherlands Mess In A Nutshell

 Well...the EU directed limits on each country for nitrogen (basically, fertilizer).  You can argue over their 'power' or 'science', but this discussion has a direct connection to farm business, and determines the likely failure of farm operations.  

So the leadership of the Netherlands went to the next step....in saying it would control the numbers.  This means....if you ran a 250-cow dairy operation....using your own hay production (with nitrogen in the mix)....the government would determine your cow number.  Maybe it'd be allowed to 240....maybe it'd be cut down to 188.  

Your profit margin?  Suddenly....screwed up.

Did the EU or the leadership of the Netherlands grasp this?  I don't think so.  They saw only one single problem and came to one single conclusion.

The violence seen so far?  Fairly harsh, and the police seem to be heading toward a 'thuggish' pattern.  What you can say....there will be a escalation of violence, and I would suggest that a collapse of the government is likely (but at least two months away).

All of this to affect the consumer of the Netherlands in a negative way?  Well....YES, of course.  Again, it's not a concern of the EU or the present government of the Netherlands.

Leading to a bigger recession problem?  One has to stand and admire the landscape.  You'd have to inflate the pricing, if you did the nitrogen game....making any agricultural product more expensive and pushing the consumer into a very difficult position.

Finally, you come to the same problem with energy and how the leadership in various countries simply didn't grasp where they were leading people for the past couple of decades.  Now....you can take agriculture, and relate it in the same fashion.  

I should state one other odd part of this story....as you lessen the farms, the tax revenue will be less.  How much?  It's an unknown.  It might be 5-percent less on farm agriculture generating tax revenue.  It might be 12-percent.  Less tax revenue means?  Oh yeah....there would have to be a cut of some  type in the next year or two....if this plan goes to full scale.  No one seems to be talking about this problem.