The video has a lot of assumptions, exegerratons and simplifications though. Such as at 6:30. They show a "forest" which has all young oak trees and no other vegetation. It's not a natural occuring forest. It's not a healthy forest, because humans have 'designed' it. Which means, they made it in the interests of statistics and for commercial purposes. For instance, if they need a specific bird, and the bird tends to nest in oak trees, they just plant whole forest areas full of them. Claiming that later on it will diversify, etc. Yet in reality, they don't seem to give a dime about having an actual natural forest. If they did, they make a wall around it and don't let people mess with it. Anyone who understands biology, knows that planting the same tree over and over again, especially if it is genetically from the same encestors, it's the worst idea possible. In Canada they did this, and some beetles specialised against those trees and ate whole forests away. Similar things are happening here. It's totally dried out too. The government has been messing with ground water levels. They have been doing this for many many years. Now it shows the result of their bad policies, and they blame it on the farmers based on just a few theoretical papers. Why would they take any blame, if they can claim it's all the fault of farmers? The farms have been there for ages upon ages and they are already improving greatly. The government on the other hand, doesn't take any blame and keeps messing around more with nature. They don't even measure the ground levels etc. Often those forests they show, are very remote and far away from diary farms. Nitrogen barely travels further than 500 meter from a diary farm. Meanwhile, there a tons of very healthy forests full of oaks next to diary farms. Why would those not be as drastically affected? Yes, I am fully in favor of science. However, the science is misused in this case. So much nitrogen can't be good, anyone can understand this. However, it's not the main cause of the problems we have. The forests are way too small. There cats, dogs, people running around in them. There roads going straight through or encircling them. Often there are even factories next to them unrelated to aggriculture. The forests are planted by humans, all original forest is cut down. The water groundwater levels are messed about with. There many invasive species. There to few insects and wildlife in general. Don't get me wrong, I would have way stricter climate change policies, perhaps including for the farmers. However, to depect this as a farmers problem is insanity.
I've been working in Holland for 6 years, in agriculture. The Dutch have so much money that if they want, they can go to the US, Canada or Portugal and make more money there :D They sell cheese even to China or Korea. nothing will fall, they're doing well
I am Dutch and I find this video really good and accurate! A great example of good journalism, well explained from different perspectives and with beautiful shots and graphics. Thank you Business Insider! ❤
This video explains better why we need to cut, than our own media or goverment.. Though I still believe we need to find a different way to cut out nitrogen than cutting our life stock in half.
I disagree chemistry here is bogusly wrong. They said ammonia (NH3) is acidifing the soil. Ammonia is alkaline it is lowering acidity in the soil, that is actually good for the soil. Tho to become a journalist you don't have to be a chemist. But its the basic inorganic school stuff. Approximately 20 people were working on this video , how the hell no one seen such obvious errors. Feel bad for chemists who are watching this video .
But they are biased. They depict cow manure and agriculture as an environmental threat. The real environmental threat comes from careless and counterproductive modern practices such as manufacturing waste and artificial fertilizers. And the amout of emissions caused by Europe is negligible compared the the amount caused by China and other industrial giants. But you never hear that side of the story because the money is all coming from the big whigs to keep this propaganda going. Ask the farmers who can barely afford to keep doing their jobs, let alone fight the "greenhouse" propaganda.
this is a nutrition problem not a nitrogen problem, dairy animals have traditionally been very effecient at removing nitrogen from fodder , but when you start to increase thethe amount of crude protien in the diets of the animal while not accounting for digesterbility you will have these problems. Cows are ment to eat grass, not soya beans, i work on a cattle farm where we only feed grass to our dairy animal snd their feaces is nearly odarless, it has so little nitrogen, then there are things like sea weed that you can add to the feed that helps to increase the effciency of the animal while reduing the methane and nitrogen emmissions. There are technologies that exsist that can concentrate and stablize the uria so it can be used to fertilize crops, its not an all or nothng cituation, this is clearly politics, not science. its funny though, we blame everything except the auto and energy industries for pollution, people would rather drive 1/4 mile than walk, or ride a bicylce. The earth population will contnue to grom unit it reaches about 14 billion, there are better ways to provide energy for transportation , etc, but farming is irreplaceable, (dont tell me almond juice is milk, its not).
People also forget that the Netherlands has a relatively high population per hectare and also produces a lot of product for other countries. So it makes sense that the country has a higher amount of nitrogen the air than many other countries. The points you make are true. I am with you on that. There can be done much to fix the issues.
yes, most of the "ecological activists" are oblivious to this kind of thing. The problem is that they lack the proper reasoning skill to understand things like that but yet have no issues making a problem out of everything they clearly do not understand. Because there is always a solution. It's pretty clear that there are too many people on earth to live have the western quality of life standard, but that is not really accepted and it means you have to limit/control procreation/population growth if this is a goal. That or everyone accepts to become poorer but the fools who think that is a "solution", live on a weird planet where human behavior is very different somehow...
@@clementcollier8432 We can't find fault with people wanting to improve their standard of living... as education and living standards increase, the populations have started to decline... it is being noticed worldwide... we should find ways to mitigate and redo older practices without victimizing any section of the society. We are smart enough to do that and yet foolishly don't do that.
@@thegamer5367 yes I'm glad you've figured out how globalisation functions but if these farms were to go we'd be paying even more than what we already are
very weird that nobody acknowledges the grain diet for cows is the main determining factor for the emissions. Cows are ruminants! theyre supposed to be eating bugs and grass !
Not when you want them to produce milk continuously! If they only eat grass and bugs they wouldn't have a good quality creamy nutritious milk. It would be more watery and less fat and in less quantity.
Call me crazy but here in Zimbabwe, manure is a prized commodity used as natural fertiliser. I have a small farm with a few cattle & i really can't get enough manure!...much love & respect to my Dutch farming brothers & sisters..from zimbabwe❤️❤️❤️🇿🇼🇿🇼🇿🇼
Nobody is the Netherlands, left or right, is against family owned farms like Frank's. It's the big corporate farmers that are the problem. Nice to hear Frank feels the same way. Hope we can get government aid to make his farming practices, which are an important cultural heritage, more sustainable.
Just saw the cow painting by van gogh in an exhibit a week ago and fun fact, it wasn't painted for the Netherlands or from life with cows in the Netherlands. It was done in France during his last few months of life when he moved to Auver and based it off an etching from his physician/friend Gachet lol.
manure digesters digest the organic content into methane the nitrogen doesnt get reduced in a digester (some of it gets turned into the residue but the nitrogen itself is still there)
Yes but even those devices have their limits. The Netherlands has almost 300 pigs per square kilometer, or about 777 per square mile. And that is the total number of pigs divided by the entire country's area. Meaning there are tons of places (about 3400 farms) that have much higher concentrations than that. That's the highest concentration in the world. And that's only pigs. The US in comparison has 8 pigs per km² or 20 per sq. mi. The dose make the poison. There are simply too many animals being held as livestock in too small of an area. And 90% of the products produced from it is being exported.
Funny how they didn't want to bring up the environment in the episode in India where people were burning rubber tires and cow dung to cook salt. But here they are freaking out over how much a cow poops in the Netherlands.
@@Seniorsneaky123So maybe this video is centered on the conflict between farmers and nature preservationists, and the video about India is... I don't know... not? Like I have no clue which video about India you're talking about, but if it's not about a conflict between people burning tires and the government wanting them to stop... then that's just not the point of the video. That's not about Business Insider being picky about what they report on. If the video is about poverty or something, then what's relevant to the video is not whether or not the government is trying to make people stop burning tires - it's whether or not the government is doing something to make people less poor.
@@trishapellis Nah, they go on about global warming crap in every video uneccesarily. They only didn't for the episode in India because they didn't want to be accused of being "racist".
??? whats wrong with the figure, those are holsteins , Jamaica Hopes Can produce about 60 percesnt of that with 3 time the fat content, while being half the size and require half the feed.
@@chrisjackson1215 i know i was hanging out with 130 of them this morning. Cows are female cattle that has giveen birth. Its not redundent if you know the jargon
The part regarding the nitrogen crisis is a master class in journalism. Haven't seen a more comprehensive, informed and well put together piece in Dutch media. Chapeau. This should be mandatory viewing for anyone that wants to form an opinion on the subject.
I am dutch. I sent this video to our family's groupchat with the following message: 'This video is a gem if you want good information about our agriculture and its dilemmas. The different aspects are beautifully explained, and finally, there is a very clear explanation of what causes the nitrogen problem. The latter has always been unclear to me.' Bravo Business Insider!
Something that I found lacking in a video is focus on the impact of trees. You need them to survive, especially with how flood prone your is country. They compact the ground and prevent mud floods which I am sure you know how disastrous they can be. It could be an idea worth looking into, but apart from trying to decrease ammonia, Dutch government could try soil enriching programs in forests, in order to supercharege the ground with minerals.
@@felisenpai9625 I agree. But the farmers are to blame on that one themselves. It's shown that the farmers have done their part with 'landjepik', first of all. Over the years they have moved the poles of their land a little bit further until they have increased their land that isn't actually theirs. It is estimated roughly 240.000.000 square meter has been unrightfully taken by the farmers. In turn they used the stolen land and to ask subsidies from the European Union for money, while they weren't allowed to. The government bought those farmers out to save them because of course they couldn't pay it back. Additionally because of it they have cut down trees they weren't supposed to cut down. Part of that land was registered as protected nature environment! This isn't on the Dutch government alone to fix. The farmers cut their own toes, knew about the emission program for 35+ years, and when the date of the law that was extended for all this time finally arrived, they acted like it came out of nowhere. And sure a big portion did their work, as seen by the lowered emissions. But another huge portion did nothing and added only more fuel to the fire because of it. I'd be happy to listen to the farmers if they weren't stealing land from the people, didn't act like their nose was bleeding, and are anti-forest. Yes anti-forest, they want them gone. There are dozens of cases where the BBB party has demanded entire forests to be removed in favor of 1-5 farmers. And we can bet on it they'll keep crying how the law is hurting them, refusing to do anything to save the little bit of nature we have left, while worrying reports have shown a disturbing trend if we keep going as we do and those farmers have nothing to work with anyway. They don't care about those forests or nature in general at ALL. I have NO sympathy for these people. I do for those who DID try their best, but I do not for those who have abused the system and now cry wolf.
Gouda is what you find in all supermarkets abroad. I've never seen Friese nagelkaas in another country. He makes special luxury cheese though. Without accelerators to speed up the ripening process.
"Went to watch on how Gouda was made, 4 minutes of vid was about Gouda, the next 16 minutes was about Govt./Politics." That's an accurate representation of how farming works in Europe.
I swear I'm learning more about the netherlands and the nitrogen story from 2 buisness insider video's then in 2 years worth of news. and yes I'm dutch
For those wondering *why* the Dutch government is trying to decrease the number of animals, here are some numbers. The Netherlands has about 100 million chickens, 11.3 million pigs and 4 million cows. Divided by 41.850km² for the total country's area that means there are *on average* 2389 chickens AND 270 pigs AND 95 cows per square kilometer. For comparison, France has 242 million chickens, 12.8 million pigs and 17.4 million cows in an area of 643.801km². 375 chickens, 20 pigs and 27 cows per square kilometer. The US has 374 million chickens, 74.4 million pigs and 89.3 million cows in an area of 9.834.000km². This leads to an average 38 chickens, 8 pigs and 9 cows per square kilometer. Or about 98, 21 and 23 per square mile. Even with the best possible scrubbing tools that will lead to issues of waste building up in the local area. Even if that waste would be beneficial is lower quantities. The dose makes the poison. And in this case it is literally killing the nature and the wildlife in the Netherlands. All so we can export 90% of the products produced from those animals to other countries. We could cut 75% of farmers and still have more than enough food to export almost twice of what we use.
Every living animal produces nitrogen. Your logic is fundamentally flawed. Humans also produce nitrogen. Would you also cull humans? 78% of the atmosphere is Nitrogen. Stop swallowing everything you hear.
@@apebass2215 Which is irrelevant for the discussion about Dutch farmers and the nitrogen issues. It is rarely a problem because the concentrations are lower in those countries.
@@apebass2215 The polution per capita is much higher in Europe. Also the farmers are polluting a lot more per income than other industries like the ones working with heavy metals or toxic chemistry, which are ussually a big factor.
Those numbers are mindblowing. The pigs the country houses surprised me the most. It's something I simply don't notice living in the city. There's a pig every two people could keep as a pet. It's ridiculous the amount of animals farmed here.
One thing about the buy-out. The newer the walls (yes the actual walls) of a farm is the more money the farmer will get for a buy-out. So a farm with walls of 10 year old with 100 year old equipment in it will fetch more money then a farm with 100 year old walls and just 1 year old equipment in it. If the farmer agrees to it, they are not allowed to start a new farm somewhere else in The Netherlands. A lot of farmers that are taking the buy-out are therefor leaving the country to start somewhere else, basically shifting the problem from one country to a different country. Since The Netherlands has some of the most strict rules world wide when it comes down to farming in general, one could ask if this is a smart idea to let the farmers buy them out and let them leave and not let them continue in The Netherlands. The demand for these products will still be there after a Dutch farmer has stopped and producers in countries with less rules will most likely take over the piece of the pie that now is up for grabs and with fewer rules these farmers can hurt the environment and animal welfare even more than it does in The Netherlands.
Netherlands is such a good and industrious country what's many Brilliant Minds I'm sure they will find a way to save their traditions and excellent cheese production producing it in a way that will help the environment good they are very innovative. I was there last year and it is such an incredibly great country. All the best greetings from Canada
It must be good team work and prayers what is best !❤ and animals not be harmed I have many thoughts on this I mean they need to eat healthy not something bad for them that only lets them make milk and food 😔
I visited the Netherlands over a decade ago and they had the BEST food I have EVER tasted! I believe their farmers should be prized for what they produce....not punished. Many people believe it's the diet of the cows that is causing this problem. They need to feed on strictly grasses....not soya.
It makes me very happy that you had such a lovely experience here! We don't have such a world-renowned haute cuisine as the Italians or the French: it's mostly simple farmers' food. But Dutch food is great comfort food in cold and wet weather, and we enjoy pure ingredients :) Yes: the diet of the cows has a big influence on the taste of their milk and meat. It's not only the taste, it's a matter of animal and consumer health as well. Take marbled meat for example: storing fat in your muscles is a sign of metabolic disease and obesity, just like fatty liver in geese. Marbled meat is very strange if you're used to mostly grass-fed meats. Most people I know like their steaks juicy and rare with a little bit of texture, not fatty and fall-apart. It feels unhealthy to us, and animal fats should be taken in moderation. It's difficult to find that moderation in North American cuisine. My boyfriend's family regularly visits the US and Canada because they have family there. They've noticed that it's extremely difficult to maintain a healthy weight if you're dependent on hotels and restaurants, even if you try to avoid cheap restaurants. My brother in law gained 8 kg in 3 weeks without trying. People are becoming more food-conscious, but it's very difficult to maintain in a society that's held together by cheap ultra-processed foods. Food deserts are also completely alien to us, but a very real thing across the pond. What we eat as kids lays the foundation for our health and our tastes in food, so it's no mystery why people get health problems at an early age. Maybe our agricultural techniques like greenhouse technology and water management strategies can help to create healthier communities.
If the cheese making process creates huge amount of nitrogen then they rather use it to create chemicals and fertilizers, and export it to other countries. Nitrogen creation with not affect the cheese production and cow dung is also very good as natural manure
Ask yourself why and how they have enough money to buy out the farmers land, but that same money cannot be used to help the farmers invest in equipment or feed to reduce emissions? The way the world is headed in the next 20 years our main food sources will come from a hand full of individuals.
Because the government would have land that they can resell where as helping the farmers would take even more money and that would be more than likely compounded every year instead of being fixed in one.
@@BetjeWolff-v2s Cool, you can cover half the country with wasteful solar panels without ever even considering the cost its raw resources have That or just open 2 nuclear power plants and have the safest cleanest and most effective form of energy production Why is it climate cultists so fervently hate actual solutions...
They miss a very important part of this discussion. Its not just innovate further with technology or selling your business. There are also enough ways to innovate to a more climate and eco-friendly farm ( regenarative farming), which will perhaps decrease the output of milk, but also will decrease the cost of nutritions, medicines, and perhaps fertilizers. On the other hand it will add more value to the landscape and offers new income streams.. I dont say that all diary farms should be changed to this, or all farms should be closed, however it is a part of the complex puzzle in the Netherlands.. Now it seems like a very easy puzzle to solve, technology innovation or selling your business...
Another "innovation" that farmers have to abide to. Another massive loan. Another step deeper into debt. And in a few years time: "dang, didn't work out. But here is another great idea farmers must invest into". That is the problem. For some people in the cities it is easy to say that farmers just need to invest. But they fail to realise that it takes generations to pay back the loans. A new regulation, a new law, a new requirement every few years....
@@kjudad1185 That's true. And it is in fact incredibly unfair of the government that they keep making new rules and then dropping them a few years down the line. But that is also partially the fault of the farmers and their representatives. We knew this was going to be a problem in the 50's, 70's, 90's and early 2000's. But instead of doing something structutal the farmers lobbied this away and tried solving it by better and better technology. But this isn't a problem we can tech our way out of. I've done the calculations elsewhere but where the US has an average of 38 chickens, 8 pigs and 9 cows per square kilometer, the Netherlands has 2389 chickens, 270 pigs and 95 cows per square kilometer. By any sane comparison we got so efficient at holding livestock compared to any other country in the world that we got to insane numbers of animals. Dilution is the solution to pollution... but there is no way we can build even more efficient ways of cleaning and scrubbing the water, air and soil that can withstand that high of a concentration of waste. Even by cutting the number of livestock in half we are still a powerhouse in Europe. And 90% of the products from these animals is being exported to other countries. The waste stays here and the rest of the world enjoys affordable products. If we spread it out more it will be less of a problem. And yes, that will mean moving production to other countries. Not because it is cheaper but because we are literally poisoning the air, water and soil the way we are doing things now.
Shutting down farms for climate change is quite a foolish idea. As long as demand is still there production will move other countries and the emissions will continue. Global warming is a concern but if fighting will end up costing us then lets wait for its effects.
To those complaining about him touching the curd, I am sorry to tell you that this is industry standard and you probably eat cheese that someone touched already.
@@Njirimara Not necessarly true, as "the lowest" country in the world the rising sea levels have only hurt other countries so far. There is also a massive increase in forest compared to 200 years ago while the population increased by 400-500%. Just because it would be logic doesnt always mean it's true.
One thing that i have been told by my culture (no offence): bulls were used to work the farm and cows for milk. I dont see any full fledged farms other than grasslands, which disturbs the ecology. The nitrogen affected areas can be reversed with full fledged crop farming like ancient times. Kindly comment for further discussions, let us help farmers from buy outs
Fascinating and so so interesting! Significant issues that nobody seems to be able to address and recurrent from the way we all live. Subsistence agriculture never had any problems but with millions and millions living in cities producing Ones and Zeros someone has to produce the food they (we) all eat as well as all other goods. Agriculture and Manufacturing are critical and we can't keep losing even more of it to be neutral (carbon, nitrogen...) on everything whilst 3/4 of the world laugh away... Preserving (in some cases rescuing it) the environment is critical but must be done in balance, in view of what others are (not) doing doing and must not cause any further (material, social, financial, family...) harm to our societies. Thank you.
I would have thought building biogas convertors is a better option than cutting the number of cows so drastically. Ammonia after all is a very valuable fertilizer for crop farmers . Perhaps the Dutch may also consider shifting the cheese making partly outside the country . This may actually bring better income to the Dutch farmers .
What I never understand about this channel is why there is no contact information for the people or manufacturers. I would really like to get this man's product, but there is no way I can.
The core issue with Dutch cow farming is that there are too many of them per localized m2 (nitrogen is a LOCAL issue, you can't do some remediation elsewhere to balance things). You plop down any of these dairy farms in Australia or the US midwest and you wouldn't have a single problem because the farm would be 10x the size land wise.
@@Simon-dm8zv NO, just no, i like flavour, i like texture, i like when what i eat taste good. I like the fact that where live, my icecream is not made by fluffing up watered down milk or highly processed plant juice but is made from cream extracted from milk that comes from a cow. being that i am one of the members of the team that formulate the feed for those cows, and other animals at the research farm i work. I can tell you humans are NOT herbivores and we need animal product to grow and develop properly. I have tried the so called alternatives, they taste nothink like the original. If you want to consume soy or almond juice and call it milk, thats all fine for you, but you should look into hoe those product are made and smell where those product are made, and there environmental impact, then come and talk to me. by the way, from a nutritional point of view, the dairy industry has been working on milk substitues for over a 100 years, and for that time they have not made one that can completely replace milk in animals. Not even the best infant formulas cant come close to actual milk and there is far more money being spent on baby formula research than what is spent on that than on the plant juice being called milk
@@nicholaswjamrock Whether you like the plant based products or not, that is not really relevant. You can get used to anything if you want to. The point is that production of dairy products is simply too inefficient and polluting. Making plant based alternatives is pretty much always less polluting. Not a single adult human needs milk to survive.
It's hard not to feel a sense of injustice, that the Netherlands are forced by the EU to set aside ecologically preserved regions, and then farmers are punished for harming those same regions. Then they reduce nitrogen emissions by two-thirds, but the goalposts move again and they get forced to make expensive upgrade after upgrade. Like, I get it, industrial-scale farming produces large effects, but it sure feels like local traditions and real people are sacrificed in the name of some abstract and ever-changing definition of "ecology".
Not entirely correct. It's the second largest agricultural exporter in the world. And that is measured in value btw, not in tons for example. But also keep in mind that it's the 4th largest agricultural importer in the world. Besides good farmers, the Dutch have always been good traders as well. :) A lot of the agricultural export value is created by flowers and live plants (the type you put in your living room or garden). So definitely still impressive for the country's size, but a bit more nuanced.
Specialization, too. When farms were very small and diverse, the manure would be the fertilizer for the grass that the cows eat. Now, the grain farmer buys chemical fertilizer to grow his grain, sells it to the farmer, the farmer has an over abundant fertilizer problem. Definitively something that can be fixed.
@@karenneill9109And that could even work if the grain was being grown locally. But the cow farmer now plants his fields with special grass that doesn't allow for any other plants or animals to grow and live there because it makes the cows produce more milk. And they always add special protein-rich feedstock (~25%) to supplement their diet so they produce even more milk than they already do. A large part of that is soy beans and corn being grown on other continents. A "natural cow" produces 10-15 liters of milk a day as long as the calf needs it. A cow on a Dutch farm produces 40-60L a day the entire year round. Generally speaking they get way too much protein, most of which gets turned into excess ammonia > nitrous oxide > nitrogen, which is part of the larger problem we have here. And at the scale it happens, there is not really a tech solution that can solve this. Even by cutting the entire livestock in half we probably still produce too much waste nitrogen. Instead of doing more with less, Dutch farmers did more with even more. And there is a limit to exponential growth. Namely, the planet.
Manure is the best fertilizer, and it's all nature. Those so-called experts don't know anything but some assuming numbers, and it is wrong, and it's very political as well. Love and respect for the Dutch farmers! STAY STRONG!
Environmentalists would love Soylent Green. It will solve most of the problems mentioned. Like what they always say: "Eat humans, not animals." If milk and dairy products get too expensive to afford, I won't hesitate to consume blood and clots; milk is basically purified blood.
Not only the cows for the dairy industry are causing the nitrogen problem.The large scale of meat (pigs and poultry) and egg production is also contributing to this problem in my home country.
@@liekie nice, so you're one of the few who aren't hypocrites, so many people demonstrate against oil but arrive at those protests by car. or are against zoo's but own a dog of cat.
Any foreigner who hasn't tried aged Gouda. I'd advice you to do it! You'd understand why the Dutch are such supporters of the Farmers.. Not just the foodstuff and the political corruption of the last years. But the insane heritage and history of the Dutch farmers cheese. Not just in the Gouda region, but in Brabant and Gelderland as well.
Most people dont support the farmers in the Netherlands. These elite snobs might work atleast as hard as anyone else, only direct relatives feel petty for them. The percentage of vegetarians which are not economicly or religously motivated is relativly high. Most people would do this because they feel bad for the animals, but in the Netherlands it is mostly because they hate the mass meat production. If you ever wandered out of your social circle you would have know this.
Frank is a well built Dutch machine, that makes me a bit proud of being Dutch. And there's not allot of stuff here that makes me a proud Dutch. But Frank for sure does! We have to protect him, Gina and all the other cows at all cost.
@@sushmag4297 They kinda have a lot in common, but Trump is like a screaming child in a political debate, while Wilders is quite smart and professional , which sets him apart from other unorthodox political figures.
I would say that dairy farming is not the big issue. What is the issue is intensively farmed chickens and pig. Dairy farming has gone on here in the Netherlands for centuries, intensive chicken and pig farming hasn't.
People seem to keep forgetting that exporting is not the same as producing. Importing and exporting (the imported) meat is not contributing to the amount of manure in the Netherlands.
There are dairy farmers in the USA that use methane digesters to compost their manure and turn waste into fuel to heat their barns and houses. They also make plant pots called Cow Pots with the composted manure.
In Vietnam, farmer could use poop and pee (mostly poop) and turn it into biogas and use that gas for cooking. You can even setting the system at your home, that not take too much space. But I don't know why the trend has been down for a time.
I'll admit that while watching this video I sympathetically enjoyed some cheese I bought in a Dutch supermarket. There's something that makes a food taste better after you've just heard someone talk about it passionately. That being said the choice seems to be between "should we stop climate change from getting to the point of breaking dykes" or "should we keep making Gouda at this scale" The answer is obvious: Keep making Gouda at this scale but charge enough to be able to afford heightening the dykes!! (Ask your hydrologist if endlessly heightening dykes beyond the limits of physics is possible for you)
Farmer-Citizen Movement spokesperson: "In 20 years where do we get our food from?", while currently about 75% is exported. There's your answer: mostly it's all about money 😢
Also by far the most efficient calories and largest parts of our diets are carbs, fruit, and veg. Dairy and meats aren't a mandatory part of our diets, and the consumption of them has skyrocketed in proportion with economic shifts. If you gave a ''well-off farmer's diet'' from 100 years ago to somebody who nowadays argues meat has always been part of our diet they'd be confused about why there's so little meat.
It's to control who can produce food. I'm sure the billion dollar conglomerates will be the only farms who can meet these ridiculous environmental standards.
So you don’t want to stop the growth of dairy farmers? Almost half of the Netherlands is owned by dairy farms (45%, source CBS). I’m all for farmers, and I have the upmost respect for their efficiency and for feeding the world, but the industry is getting too big.
So that they can regulate away all small farmers out of business and then that way only the big corporations can come in and monopolize the industry. The idea of making life difficult for the small business farmers is not an accident, it's deliberate.
@@darrobinson9830 exactly. they also want the farmers gone because more people will get sick if they succeed. I only eat my food from farmers and Im in the best health I have ever been.
Im a farmer in Norway, i dont do milk, but meat, but i know there a program going around for the dairy farmers to get feed that has an element to it that reduces the nitrogen in the cow, the dairy farmer that choose to go with this options get their milk picked up by special trucks and their milk is put in different packaging since its still being "tested" and isnt the same milk people are used too, i havent tried it myself but i just might.
If you separate poo from pee and perhaps have a communal semi free transportation system you can curb the nitrogen emissions, but that would make sense right. Beter to close farms were are real food comes from.
A high emission per hectare also means a high deposit per hectare. It's true that this is related to the population density, but it is irrelevant to the nature preserves
@@murmurrrr You're correct, it is among the densely populated countries in the world, actually. The Netherlands is ranked 4th in the world with 530 people per square km.
It's so easy in this debate to point at one group and blame them. However, the truth is that this is a very complex problem for which there are no easy solutions.
Thank you for this video - it is very well made and easy to watch. I would just like to add it would be nice to this video skip the politics (section of the video) blaming the farmers and their cow's for 'environmental problems' which I'm sure can be fixed some other creative way, that their government won't research and help them figure out. Nope, these brother-owner's are likely clobbered with regulations from their government.
@@Aminasheik31 it's free seasoning. we Dutch like to save money so a little free spices in our food are always appreciated. but for real, those few hairs that enter that giant tub are negligible. if you stand at your stove stirring a pot about the same amount of hair will fall from you into the pot you're stirring.
It is an frustrating problem on one hand, as a Dutch person who loves cheese, I want these farmers and businesses to continue but I also see the damage the pollution does and that something needs to change. So we either need to science and engineer ways to lower the amount of pollution or we have to spread out the farmers. Much of the Cheese goes to surrounding EU countries, countries that are generally much larger in landmass than The Netherlands. There should be an additional solution other than taking money and closing shop and that is money to move your business to another EU nation. That way we spread out the pollution and put the production closer to the customer. Another option is investing big into the tech that lowers pollution and sell it to the world to off set the cost and lower the price by increasing the economies of scale. Such a poop roomba only costs so much because it's build in small volumes. Of course the limbo created by populist democracy also really doesn't help as the government can't really plan for the future, let alone make decisions that are necessary but not popular with the voters. Which hurts the economical stability of the entire country and all its businesses as every 4 years a new coalition can make a 180 on a policy that in reality takes more than 4 years to actually implement so we end up with many half assed policy implementations. This makes it impossible for businesses, like farmers, to plan for the future, to know if that big investment is actually going to be worth it. It is a major issue of populist democracy has everywhere.
Dutch farmers are the best, our farming research and education is the best. The problem is, it has been geared towards bigger and more. Pushed by government, banks, industry. That is unsustainable. It should be redirected towards quality. Not that the current food is bad, but its mostly bulk. Research should, and is, be geared not towards the last extra drop of milk, but towards the cleanest, most sustainable milk. But...part of the solution is less farmers. This is not new, there used to be a blacksmith in every village. Gone. Gone are also most bakers, butchers greengrocers.. Farmers have been quitting for decades also, but this lead to all other farms getting much bigger. If sociaty changes, the economy changes, the limits are reached, we have to adapt. Lucky for farmers the vast majority of farms are worth millions. So there is money...
if they close the farm in the Netherlands, a new farm will appear in China producing the Gouda. And later they complain why China is the biggest exporter of Gouda.
The actions of the Dutch government are not about reducing nitrogen concentrations. They are directly trying to reduce the production of food by eliminating livestock and disincentivizing farming. We are the carbon they want to reduce, never forget that.
As a dutchman: this is some of the most objective, balanced and unbiased reporting on this issue/topic.
to bad the left want to abolish every culture and every industry we have.
Wel een kut uitspraak
True, but the biggest innovation in years is lacking: Where are the milking robots?
The video has a lot of assumptions, exegerratons and simplifications though. Such as at 6:30. They show a "forest" which has all young oak trees and no other vegetation. It's not a natural occuring forest. It's not a healthy forest, because humans have 'designed' it. Which means, they made it in the interests of statistics and for commercial purposes.
For instance, if they need a specific bird, and the bird tends to nest in oak trees, they just plant whole forest areas full of them. Claiming that later on it will diversify, etc. Yet in reality, they don't seem to give a dime about having an actual natural forest. If they did, they make a wall around it and don't let people mess with it. Anyone who understands biology, knows that planting the same tree over and over again, especially if it is genetically from the same encestors, it's the worst idea possible. In Canada they did this, and some beetles specialised against those trees and ate whole forests away. Similar things are happening here.
It's totally dried out too. The government has been messing with ground water levels. They have been doing this for many many years. Now it shows the result of their bad policies, and they blame it on the farmers based on just a few theoretical papers. Why would they take any blame, if they can claim it's all the fault of farmers? The farms have been there for ages upon ages and they are already improving greatly. The government on the other hand, doesn't take any blame and keeps messing around more with nature.
They don't even measure the ground levels etc. Often those forests they show, are very remote and far away from diary farms. Nitrogen barely travels further than 500 meter from a diary farm.
Meanwhile, there a tons of very healthy forests full of oaks next to diary farms. Why would those not be as drastically affected?
Yes, I am fully in favor of science. However, the science is misused in this case. So much nitrogen can't be good, anyone can understand this. However, it's not the main cause of the problems we have. The forests are way too small. There cats, dogs, people running around in them. There roads going straight through or encircling them. Often there are even factories next to them unrelated to aggriculture. The forests are planted by humans, all original forest is cut down. The water groundwater levels are messed about with. There many invasive species. There to few insects and wildlife in general.
Don't get me wrong, I would have way stricter climate change policies, perhaps including for the farmers. However, to depect this as a farmers problem is insanity.
I've been working in Holland for 6 years, in agriculture.
The Dutch have so much money that if they want, they can go to the US, Canada or Portugal and make more money there :D
They sell cheese even to China or Korea.
nothing will fall, they're doing well
"And I don't know if it's extra good, but I like it". Dutch directness right there!.
I thought the same thing haha. I lived close to the dutch border most of my life and this is how they are. Always loved that.
that's not very direct though
Lies again? Milky Way USD SGD
@@eloytoro they never give anything 10/10. It's direct in that he's not overinflating what it is and is telling it like it is.
@@NazriB Troll again?
I am Dutch and I find this video really good and accurate! A great example of good journalism, well explained from different perspectives and with beautiful shots and graphics. Thank you Business Insider! ❤
Yeah it’s really good, summarizes the situation quite well
There's some suggestive wording here and there, and lacking key information, but it covers the general idea.
Fully agree; Excellent video with clear explanation of the issues/situation
This video explains better why we need to cut, than our own media or goverment.. Though I still believe we need to find a different way to cut out nitrogen than cutting our life stock in half.
I disagree chemistry here is bogusly wrong. They said ammonia (NH3) is acidifing the soil. Ammonia is alkaline it is lowering acidity in the soil, that is actually good for the soil.
Tho to become a journalist you don't have to be a chemist. But its the basic inorganic school stuff.
Approximately 20 people were working on this video , how the hell no one seen such obvious errors.
Feel bad for chemists who are watching this video .
I wonder how many times I've tasted this guy's arms
I was looking for this comment. 😂😂😂
😂
😂
Me too. I was thinking about arm hair :(
In truth their very clean. But artisans like this need to be able to feel in order to be accurate with their culinary skills. gloves take that away.
My goodness.. isn’t this video a sight for sore eyes! Haven’t see such unbiased holistic journalism anywhere in decades! Thank you!!
They always offer a well rounded view 👍
:)
But they are biased. They depict cow manure and agriculture as an environmental threat. The real environmental threat comes from careless and counterproductive modern practices such as manufacturing waste and artificial fertilizers. And the amout of emissions caused by Europe is negligible compared the the amount caused by China and other industrial giants. But you never hear that side of the story because the money is all coming from the big whigs to keep this propaganda going. Ask the farmers who can barely afford to keep doing their jobs, let alone fight the "greenhouse" propaganda.
exaactlyyyy.... I'm in owe.
Other then the idea that upped nitrogen levels isn’t bad for nature at all
this is a nutrition problem not a nitrogen problem, dairy animals have traditionally been very effecient at removing nitrogen from fodder , but when you start to increase thethe amount of crude protien in the diets of the animal while not accounting for digesterbility you will have these problems. Cows are ment to eat grass, not soya beans, i work on a cattle farm where we only feed grass to our dairy animal snd their feaces is nearly odarless, it has so little nitrogen, then there are things like sea weed that you can add to the feed that helps to increase the effciency of the animal while reduing the methane and nitrogen emmissions.
There are technologies that exsist that can concentrate and stablize the uria so it can be used to fertilize crops, its not an all or nothng cituation, this is clearly politics, not science.
its funny though, we blame everything except the auto and energy industries for pollution, people would rather drive 1/4 mile than walk, or ride a bicylce. The earth population will contnue to grom unit it reaches about 14 billion, there are better ways to provide energy for transportation , etc, but farming is irreplaceable, (dont tell me almond juice is milk, its not).
People also forget that the Netherlands has a relatively high population per hectare and also produces a lot of product for other countries. So it makes sense that the country has a higher amount of nitrogen the air than many other countries.
The points you make are true. I am with you on that. There can be done much to fix the issues.
Cool insight!
yes, most of the "ecological activists" are oblivious to this kind of thing. The problem is that they lack the proper reasoning skill to understand things like that but yet have no issues making a problem out of everything they clearly do not understand. Because there is always a solution.
It's pretty clear that there are too many people on earth to live have the western quality of life standard, but that is not really accepted and it means you have to limit/control procreation/population growth if this is a goal. That or everyone accepts to become poorer but the fools who think that is a "solution", live on a weird planet where human behavior is very different somehow...
It's they same with a lot of things. They want to fix the symptoms and not the actual problem.
@@clementcollier8432 We can't find fault with people wanting to improve their standard of living... as education and living standards increase, the populations have started to decline... it is being noticed worldwide... we should find ways to mitigate and redo older practices without victimizing any section of the society. We are smart enough to do that and yet foolishly don't do that.
I am 4 mins in and I am on the side of the farmer making the cheese the old fashion way.
You should be our government should be funding the nitrogen decreasers not farmers. they make our food
@@cyberleone00 gov should f off with their WEF planned famines.
@@cyberleone00food that is instantly exported you mean, most of the food made there is exported the same day.
Dairy doesn’t belong in this age.
@@thegamer5367 yes I'm glad you've figured out how globalisation functions but if these farms were to go we'd be paying even more than what we already are
very weird that nobody acknowledges the grain diet for cows is the main determining factor for the emissions. Cows are ruminants! theyre supposed to be eating bugs and grass !
Don't notice that. Thats anti-Semitic .
Not when you want them to produce milk continuously! If they only eat grass and bugs they wouldn't have a good quality creamy nutritious milk. It would be more watery and less fat and in less quantity.
@@s._3560 do you own cows
@@wonderlandparty6054 How?
Very weird that people buy into the climate farce.
Call me crazy but here in Zimbabwe, manure is a prized commodity used as natural fertiliser. I have a small farm with a few cattle & i really can't get enough manure!...much love & respect to my Dutch farming brothers & sisters..from zimbabwe❤️❤️❤️🇿🇼🇿🇼🇿🇼
we love you too😊
Yes, there is really WAY too much manure in The Netherlands, Belgium, ... Way too much to use as a fertiliser. It's a real problem.
@@David34981 Why not export it as manure? If it was well rotted would it cause less problems?
@@VenusBijou We already do. Look up manure export netherlands and you will be surprised about the numbers.
@@VenusBijouI think the problem is that the manure has to off gas ammonia before it becomes usable for farming, but the ammonia is the actual problem.
Nobody is the Netherlands, left or right, is against family owned farms like Frank's. It's the big corporate farmers that are the problem. Nice to hear Frank feels the same way. Hope we can get government aid to make his farming practices, which are an important cultural heritage, more sustainable.
Just saw the cow painting by van gogh in an exhibit a week ago and fun fact, it wasn't painted for the Netherlands or from life with cows in the Netherlands. It was done in France during his last few months of life when he moved to Auver and based it off an etching from his physician/friend Gachet lol.
It's ''based ON'' and don't ''lol'' at your OWN COMMENTS because that shows you're really sad and lonely, okay?
Nerd@@rocksparadox
There are farms in the US that use manure digesters to rapidly reduce emissions and process quantities of residue at scale.
manure digesters digest the organic content into methane the nitrogen doesnt get reduced in a digester (some of it gets turned into the residue but the nitrogen itself is still there)
Yes but even those devices have their limits.
The Netherlands has almost 300 pigs per square kilometer, or about 777 per square mile. And that is the total number of pigs divided by the entire country's area. Meaning there are tons of places (about 3400 farms) that have much higher concentrations than that. That's the highest concentration in the world. And that's only pigs.
The US in comparison has 8 pigs per km² or 20 per sq. mi.
The dose make the poison.
There are simply too many animals being held as livestock in too small of an area. And 90% of the products produced from it is being exported.
Funny how they didn't want to bring up the environment in the episode in India where people were burning rubber tires and cow dung to cook salt. But here they are freaking out over how much a cow poops in the Netherlands.
@@Seniorsneaky123So maybe this video is centered on the conflict between farmers and nature preservationists, and the video about India is... I don't know... not?
Like I have no clue which video about India you're talking about, but if it's not about a conflict between people burning tires and the government wanting them to stop... then that's just not the point of the video. That's not about Business Insider being picky about what they report on. If the video is about poverty or something, then what's relevant to the video is not whether or not the government is trying to make people stop burning tires - it's whether or not the government is doing something to make people less poor.
@@trishapellis Nah, they go on about global warming crap in every video uneccesarily. They only didn't for the episode in India because they didn't want to be accused of being "racist".
Lmao....”all this milk comes from his 200 female cows”......you had me rolling on that one....😂
you have to gender them correctly.. :D
??? whats wrong with the figure, those are holsteins , Jamaica Hopes Can produce about 60 percesnt of that with 3 time the fat content, while being half the size and require half the feed.
@@nicholaswjamrock female cows just called cows, male cows are called bulls. They're pointing out that calling them female cows is redundant.
@@chrisjackson1215 Yeah I don't think I would want to try bull milk...
@@chrisjackson1215 i know i was hanging out with 130 of them this morning. Cows are female cattle that has giveen birth. Its not redundent if you know the jargon
The part regarding the nitrogen crisis is a master class in journalism. Haven't seen a more comprehensive, informed and well put together piece in Dutch media. Chapeau. This should be mandatory viewing for anyone that wants to form an opinion on the subject.
I am dutch. I sent this video to our family's groupchat with the following message:
'This video is a gem if you want good information about our agriculture and its dilemmas. The different aspects are beautifully explained, and finally, there is a very clear explanation of what causes the nitrogen problem. The latter has always been unclear to me.'
Bravo Business Insider!
Something that I found lacking in a video is focus on the impact of trees. You need them to survive, especially with how flood prone your is country. They compact the ground and prevent mud floods which I am sure you know how disastrous they can be. It could be an idea worth looking into, but apart from trying to decrease ammonia, Dutch government could try soil enriching programs in forests, in order to supercharege the ground with minerals.
@@felisenpai9625 I agree. But the farmers are to blame on that one themselves. It's shown that the farmers have done their part with 'landjepik', first of all. Over the years they have moved the poles of their land a little bit further until they have increased their land that isn't actually theirs. It is estimated roughly 240.000.000 square meter has been unrightfully taken by the farmers. In turn they used the stolen land and to ask subsidies from the European Union for money, while they weren't allowed to. The government bought those farmers out to save them because of course they couldn't pay it back. Additionally because of it they have cut down trees they weren't supposed to cut down. Part of that land was registered as protected nature environment!
This isn't on the Dutch government alone to fix. The farmers cut their own toes, knew about the emission program for 35+ years, and when the date of the law that was extended for all this time finally arrived, they acted like it came out of nowhere. And sure a big portion did their work, as seen by the lowered emissions. But another huge portion did nothing and added only more fuel to the fire because of it. I'd be happy to listen to the farmers if they weren't stealing land from the people, didn't act like their nose was bleeding, and are anti-forest. Yes anti-forest, they want them gone. There are dozens of cases where the BBB party has demanded entire forests to be removed in favor of 1-5 farmers. And we can bet on it they'll keep crying how the law is hurting them, refusing to do anything to save the little bit of nature we have left, while worrying reports have shown a disturbing trend if we keep going as we do and those farmers have nothing to work with anyway. They don't care about those forests or nature in general at ALL. I have NO sympathy for these people. I do for those who DID try their best, but I do not for those who have abused the system and now cry wolf.
Went to watch on how Gouda was made, 4 minutes of vid was about Gouda, the next 16 minutes was about Govt./Politics.
It's Business insider. It's about the Business side of the Gouda production.
But business and politics can be separated. Granted, I found the politics very interesting.
Me too
Gouda is what you find in all supermarkets abroad. I've never seen Friese nagelkaas in another country.
He makes special luxury cheese though. Without accelerators to speed up the ripening process.
"Went to watch on how Gouda was made, 4 minutes of vid was about Gouda, the next 16 minutes was about Govt./Politics."
That's an accurate representation of how farming works in Europe.
I swear I'm learning more about the netherlands and the nitrogen story from 2 buisness insider video's then in 2 years worth of news. and yes I'm dutch
Dan ben je best wel dom.
您好，向您致以各种祝福和我最崇高的敬意...我已经关注您好几年了，您的工作非常重要，具有说教性且精致...数百万人可以从您在食品保存和处理方面的知识中受益，除了您是一位非常有才华的厨师并且谦虚地从您的原籍地和国家向我们传递如此多的信息之外，还有如此重要的信息......例如食物的保存和处理
For those wondering *why* the Dutch government is trying to decrease the number of animals, here are some numbers.
The Netherlands has about 100 million chickens, 11.3 million pigs and 4 million cows.
Divided by 41.850km² for the total country's area that means there are *on average* 2389 chickens AND 270 pigs AND 95 cows per square kilometer.
For comparison,
France has 242 million chickens, 12.8 million pigs and 17.4 million cows in an area of 643.801km². 375 chickens, 20 pigs and 27 cows per square kilometer.
The US has 374 million chickens, 74.4 million pigs and 89.3 million cows in an area of 9.834.000km². This leads to an average 38 chickens, 8 pigs and 9 cows per square kilometer. Or about 98, 21 and 23 per square mile.
Even with the best possible scrubbing tools that will lead to issues of waste building up in the local area. Even if that waste would be beneficial is lower quantities.
The dose makes the poison. And in this case it is literally killing the nature and the wildlife in the Netherlands.
All so we can export 90% of the products produced from those animals to other countries. We could cut 75% of farmers and still have more than enough food to export almost twice of what we use.
Every living animal produces nitrogen. Your logic is fundamentally flawed. Humans also produce nitrogen. Would you also cull humans? 78% of the atmosphere is Nitrogen. Stop swallowing everything you hear.
Now look at the pollution produced by China and India. European countries could disappear entirely and it will barely make a dent in global emissions.
@@apebass2215 Which is irrelevant for the discussion about Dutch farmers and the nitrogen issues. It is rarely a problem because the concentrations are lower in those countries.
@@apebass2215 The polution per capita is much higher in Europe. Also the farmers are polluting a lot more per income than other industries like the ones working with heavy metals or toxic chemistry, which are ussually a big factor.
Those numbers are mindblowing. The pigs the country houses surprised me the most. It's something I simply don't notice living in the city. There's a pig every two people could keep as a pet.
It's ridiculous the amount of animals farmed here.
One thing about the buy-out.
The newer the walls (yes the actual walls) of a farm is the more money the farmer will get for a buy-out.
So a farm with walls of 10 year old with 100 year old equipment in it will fetch more money then a farm with 100 year old walls and just 1 year old equipment in it.
If the farmer agrees to it, they are not allowed to start a new farm somewhere else in The Netherlands.
A lot of farmers that are taking the buy-out are therefor leaving the country to start somewhere else, basically shifting the problem from one country to a different country.
Since The Netherlands has some of the most strict rules world wide when it comes down to farming in general, one could ask if this is a smart idea to let the farmers buy them out and let them leave and not let them continue in The Netherlands.
The demand for these products will still be there after a Dutch farmer has stopped and producers in countries with less rules will most likely take over the piece of the pie that now is up for grabs and with fewer rules these farmers can hurt the environment and animal welfare even more than it does in The Netherlands.
Netherlands is such a good and industrious country what's many Brilliant Minds I'm sure they will find a way to save their traditions and excellent cheese production producing it in a way that will help the environment good they are very innovative. I was there last year and it is such an incredibly great country. All the best greetings from Canada
as a Dutchie i agree. we will figure it out, not only cause our people are incredibly smart, but also because we want everything to be coherent.
I hope that a solution can be found that helps keep the farmers farming and the forests from dying.
It must be good team work and prayers what is best !❤ and animals not be harmed I have many thoughts on this I mean they need to eat healthy not something bad for them that only lets them make milk and food 😔
1 Gallon = 3,785 Liters you're welcome
Very well done video, guys. It's holistic and current and asks very good questions. Great job, keep it up!
One of the best cheeses for burger 🍔 😊
Greetings from Miami 🇺🇸
I visited the Netherlands over a decade ago and they had the BEST food I have EVER tasted! I believe their farmers should be prized for what they produce....not punished. Many people believe it's the diet of the cows that is causing this problem. They need to feed on strictly grasses....not soya.
It makes me very happy that you had such a lovely experience here! We don't have such a world-renowned haute cuisine as the Italians or the French: it's mostly simple farmers' food. But Dutch food is great comfort food in cold and wet weather, and we enjoy pure ingredients :)
Yes: the diet of the cows has a big influence on the taste of their milk and meat. It's not only the taste, it's a matter of animal and consumer health as well. Take marbled meat for example: storing fat in your muscles is a sign of metabolic disease and obesity, just like fatty liver in geese. Marbled meat is very strange if you're used to mostly grass-fed meats. Most people I know like their steaks juicy and rare with a little bit of texture, not fatty and fall-apart. It feels unhealthy to us, and animal fats should be taken in moderation.
It's difficult to find that moderation in North American cuisine. My boyfriend's family regularly visits the US and Canada because they have family there. They've noticed that it's extremely difficult to maintain a healthy weight if you're dependent on hotels and restaurants, even if you try to avoid cheap restaurants. My brother in law gained 8 kg in 3 weeks without trying.
People are becoming more food-conscious, but it's very difficult to maintain in a society that's held together by cheap ultra-processed foods. Food deserts are also completely alien to us, but a very real thing across the pond. What we eat as kids lays the foundation for our health and our tastes in food, so it's no mystery why people get health problems at an early age. Maybe our agricultural techniques like greenhouse technology and water management strategies can help to create healthier communities.
Grass, soil, and cheese. What a wonderful combinationn
If the cheese making process creates huge amount of nitrogen then they rather use it to create chemicals and fertilizers, and export it to other countries. Nitrogen creation with not affect the cheese production and cow dung is also very good as natural manure
Ask yourself why and how they have enough money to buy out the farmers land, but that same money cannot be used to help the farmers invest in equipment or feed to reduce emissions? The way the world is headed in the next 20 years our main food sources will come from a hand full of individuals.
Because the government would have land that they can resell where as helping the farmers would take even more money and that would be more than likely compounded every year instead of being fixed in one.
I see many grassfields turned into solar panel fields. Avoiding to be depended on Putin for oil and gaz.
@@BetjeWolff-v2s
Cool, you can cover half the country with wasteful solar panels without ever even considering the cost its raw resources have
That or just open 2 nuclear power plants and have the safest cleanest and most effective form of energy production
Why is it climate cultists so fervently hate actual solutions...
Man, I'd love to get a drink with this guy.
This video truly inspires me, thank you!
They miss a very important part of this discussion. Its not just innovate further with technology or selling your business. There are also enough ways to innovate to a more climate and eco-friendly farm ( regenarative farming), which will perhaps decrease the output of milk, but also will decrease the cost of nutritions, medicines, and perhaps fertilizers. On the other hand it will add more value to the landscape and offers new income streams..
I dont say that all diary farms should be changed to this, or all farms should be closed, however it is a part of the complex puzzle in the Netherlands..
Now it seems like a very easy puzzle to solve, technology innovation or selling your business...
We tried that. But by now the gains are marginal and emissions are still massive.
Says the guy with a design in head, and has done none of the labor to work a farm.
Another "innovation" that farmers have to abide to. Another massive loan. Another step deeper into debt. And in a few years time: "dang, didn't work out. But here is another great idea farmers must invest into".
That is the problem. For some people in the cities it is easy to say that farmers just need to invest. But they fail to realise that it takes generations to pay back the loans.
A new regulation, a new law, a new requirement every few years....
@@kjudad1185 That's true. And it is in fact incredibly unfair of the government that they keep making new rules and then dropping them a few years down the line.
But that is also partially the fault of the farmers and their representatives. We knew this was going to be a problem in the 50's, 70's, 90's and early 2000's. But instead of doing something structutal the farmers lobbied this away and tried solving it by better and better technology.
But this isn't a problem we can tech our way out of.
I've done the calculations elsewhere but where the US has an average of 38 chickens, 8 pigs and 9 cows per square kilometer, the Netherlands has 2389 chickens, 270 pigs and 95 cows per square kilometer.
By any sane comparison we got so efficient at holding livestock compared to any other country in the world that we got to insane numbers of animals.
Dilution is the solution to pollution... but there is no way we can build even more efficient ways of cleaning and scrubbing the water, air and soil that can withstand that high of a concentration of waste.
Even by cutting the number of livestock in half we are still a powerhouse in Europe. And 90% of the products from these animals is being exported to other countries. The waste stays here and the rest of the world enjoys affordable products.
If we spread it out more it will be less of a problem. And yes, that will mean moving production to other countries. Not because it is cheaper but because we are literally poisoning the air, water and soil the way we are doing things now.
Shutting down farms for climate change is quite a foolish idea. As long as demand is still there production will move other countries and the emissions will continue. Global warming is a concern but if fighting will end up costing us then lets wait for its effects.
Not fighting climate change now will cost us even more
To those complaining about him touching the curd, I am sorry to tell you that this is industry standard and you probably eat cheese that someone touched already.
Touching with a glove or clean hands is sonething else than having armhairs in it.
It is gross.
😂
@@YtdeletesallmycommentsDo you find arm hairs on your cheese often?
@@darnit1944
Dont know the good cheese goes away for export what we eat as dutch people is different. Maybe because we miss armhair flavour. 😂😂😂
Dont forget that this tiny country is one of the largest food exporters in the world. So the emissions is relative to that
Food exporter does not mean we produce that our selves. The Netherlands is a country built on trade. We import and export.
But is also important to remember that the ecosystems most directly affected are gonna be the netherland's not the world's
@@Njirimara Not necessarly true, as "the lowest" country in the world the rising sea levels have only hurt other countries so far. There is also a massive increase in forest compared to 200 years ago while the population increased by 400-500%. Just because it would be logic doesnt always mean it's true.
@@jemoedermeteensnor88 that is very true, one would think i would know this by living in an island myself lol, thank you for saying this!
Over 80% of exported goods are also imported goods.
Can't state one fact and leave out the most important detail
One thing that i have been told by my culture (no offence): bulls were used to work the farm and cows for milk. I dont see any full fledged farms other than grasslands, which disturbs the ecology. The nitrogen affected areas can be reversed with full fledged crop farming like ancient times. Kindly comment for further discussions, let us help farmers from buy outs
6:27 Someone needs to tell the narrator that all cows are females.
Fascinating and so so interesting! Significant issues that nobody seems to be able to address and recurrent from the way we all live. Subsistence agriculture never had any problems but with millions and millions living in cities producing Ones and Zeros someone has to produce the food they (we) all eat as well as all other goods. Agriculture and Manufacturing are critical and we can't keep losing even more of it to be neutral (carbon, nitrogen...) on everything whilst 3/4 of the world laugh away... Preserving (in some cases rescuing it) the environment is critical but must be done in balance, in view of what others are (not) doing doing and must not cause any further (material, social, financial, family...) harm to our societies. Thank you.
I would have thought building biogas convertors is a better option than cutting the number of cows so drastically. Ammonia after all is a very valuable fertilizer for crop farmers .
Perhaps the Dutch may also consider shifting the cheese making partly outside the country . This may actually bring better income to the Dutch farmers .
What I never understand about this channel is why there is no contact information for the people or manufacturers. I would really like to get this man's product, but there is no way I can.
I"m glad there isn't. Advertising brings money into the picture, and that muddies the waters on what is ethical when it comes to journalism.
1:53, bottom of the name plate
Limited Edition !
This was an amazing report! I enjoyed the switching back and forth between politics (for lack of a better term) and Frank's farm.
Hi from Flanders!
Nothing beats old school farming
Aside from modern farming
@@gabrieldsouza6541no no he said nothing
The core issue with Dutch cow farming is that there are too many of them per localized m2 (nitrogen is a LOCAL issue, you can't do some remediation elsewhere to balance things).
You plop down any of these dairy farms in Australia or the US midwest and you wouldn't have a single problem because the farm would be 10x the size land wise.
They need to take out the grains particularly soy, from rhe cows feed. Adding in 10% seaweed to their feed also cuts down on emissions from cows.
Or just decrease cattle massively.
@@Simon-dm8zv then what do you use to make the cheese, and butter, and what would i have with my cornflackes, what would make my icecream????
@@nicholaswjamrock All these products are available in plant based alternatives.
@@Simon-dm8zv NO, just no, i like flavour, i like texture, i like when what i eat taste good. I like the fact that where live, my icecream is not made by fluffing up watered down milk or highly processed plant juice but is made from cream extracted from milk that comes from a cow. being that i am one of the members of the team that formulate the feed for those cows, and other animals at the research farm i work. I can tell you humans are NOT herbivores and we need animal product to grow and develop properly. I have tried the so called alternatives, they taste nothink like the original. If you want to consume soy or almond juice and call it milk, thats all fine for you, but you should look into hoe those product are made and smell where those product are made, and there environmental impact, then come and talk to me.
by the way, from a nutritional point of view, the dairy industry has been working on milk substitues for over a 100 years, and for that time they have not made one that can completely replace milk in animals. Not even the best infant formulas cant come close to actual milk and there is far more money being spent on baby formula research than what is spent on that than on the plant juice being called milk
@@nicholaswjamrock Whether you like the plant based products or not, that is not really relevant. You can get used to anything if you want to. The point is that production of dairy products is simply too inefficient and polluting. Making plant based alternatives is pretty much always less polluting. Not a single adult human needs milk to survive.
It's hard not to feel a sense of injustice, that the Netherlands are forced by the EU to set aside ecologically preserved regions, and then farmers are punished for harming those same regions. Then they reduce nitrogen emissions by two-thirds, but the goalposts move again and they get forced to make expensive upgrade after upgrade.
Like, I get it, industrial-scale farming produces large effects, but it sure feels like local traditions and real people are sacrificed in the name of some abstract and ever-changing definition of "ecology".
First thing i see is the arm hairs of the cheese maker going in the curd
The Netherlands is the second largest food exporting nation in the world..
Not entirely correct. It's the second largest agricultural exporter in the world. And that is measured in value btw, not in tons for example. But also keep in mind that it's the 4th largest agricultural importer in the world. Besides good farmers, the Dutch have always been good traders as well. :) A lot of the agricultural export value is created by flowers and live plants (the type you put in your living room or garden). So definitely still impressive for the country's size, but a bit more nuanced.
There is nothing wrong with having cows and farming, its just that the scale is out of proposition, due to globalization and the economy...
Specialization, too. When farms were very small and diverse, the manure would be the fertilizer for the grass that the cows eat. Now, the grain farmer buys chemical fertilizer to grow his grain, sells it to the farmer, the farmer has an over abundant fertilizer problem. Definitively something that can be fixed.
@@karenneill9109 Agree!!
@@karenneill9109And that could even work if the grain was being grown locally. But the cow farmer now plants his fields with special grass that doesn't allow for any other plants or animals to grow and live there because it makes the cows produce more milk.
And they always add special protein-rich feedstock (~25%) to supplement their diet so they produce even more milk than they already do. A large part of that is soy beans and corn being grown on other continents.
A "natural cow" produces 10-15 liters of milk a day as long as the calf needs it. A cow on a Dutch farm produces 40-60L a day the entire year round.
Generally speaking they get way too much protein, most of which gets turned into excess ammonia > nitrous oxide > nitrogen, which is part of the larger problem we have here.
And at the scale it happens, there is not really a tech solution that can solve this. Even by cutting the entire livestock in half we probably still produce too much waste nitrogen. Instead of doing more with less, Dutch farmers did more with even more. And there is a limit to exponential growth. Namely, the planet.
Manure is the best fertilizer, and it's all nature. Those so-called experts don't know anything but some assuming numbers, and it is wrong, and it's very political as well. Love and respect for the Dutch farmers! STAY STRONG!
Not climate policy, but environmental policy. Small, but important detail.
Anyone else think the curd bath looks comfy? Nice and warm.
No, actually
Environmentalists would love Soylent Green. It will solve most of the problems mentioned. Like what they always say: "Eat humans, not animals."
If milk and dairy products get too expensive to afford, I won't hesitate to consume blood and clots; milk is basically purified blood.
Not only the cows for the dairy industry are causing the nitrogen problem.The large scale of meat (pigs and poultry) and egg production is also contributing to this problem in my home country.
womp womp
What about your car
do your part and stop using a car, go 100% car free.
start the change yourself and then you can demand change from others.
@@ChristiaanHW It's hard driving a car without a driver's license 😆
@@liekie nice, so you're one of the few who aren't hypocrites,
so many people demonstrate against oil but arrive at those protests by car.
or are against zoo's but own a dog of cat.
A man who loves his work makes the best products. I bet this cheese is great.
Any foreigner who hasn't tried aged Gouda. I'd advice you to do it! You'd understand why the Dutch are such supporters of the Farmers.. Not just the foodstuff and the political corruption of the last years. But the insane heritage and history of the Dutch farmers cheese. Not just in the Gouda region, but in Brabant and Gelderland as well.
Most people dont support the farmers in the Netherlands. These elite snobs might work atleast as hard as anyone else, only direct relatives feel petty for them. The percentage of vegetarians which are not economicly or religously motivated is relativly high. Most people would do this because they feel bad for the animals, but in the Netherlands it is mostly because they hate the mass meat production.
If you ever wandered out of your social circle you would have know this.
Frank is a well built Dutch machine, that makes me a bit proud of being Dutch. And there's not allot of stuff here that makes me a proud Dutch. But Frank for sure does! We have to protect him, Gina and all the other cows at all cost.
Just a note, PVV is by no means new. They've been around for 18 years. Wilders is the longest sitting member of parlement.
Pvv guy looks like Trump mixed with Homelander.
@@sushmag4297 They kinda have a lot in common, but Trump is like a screaming child in a political debate, while Wilders is quite smart and professional , which sets him apart from other unorthodox political figures.
Eye opening video. Excellent reporting
I would say that dairy farming is not the big issue. What is the issue is intensively farmed chickens and pig. Dairy farming has gone on here in the Netherlands for centuries, intensive chicken and pig farming hasn't.
Dairy farming on the scale it exists today also didn’t exist a century ago. Cattle is also a lot more damaging than pigs and chickens.
People seem to keep forgetting that exporting is not the same as producing. Importing and exporting (the imported) meat is not contributing to the amount of manure in the Netherlands.
There are dairy farmers in the USA that use methane digesters to compost their manure and turn waste into fuel to heat their barns and houses. They also make plant pots called Cow Pots with the composted manure.
A day without cheese is like a day without sunshine.
6:27 -- I like how the narrator said "female cows".
All cows are female.
"Cow" is sometimes used as an umbrella term for the breed, male or female. Specifying female might seem redundant but for some it's necessary.
Don’t assume their gender
What if the cow identify as an bull
No none binaries? Or transgoats?
What 😂 is going on in this reply section .
Same issue in California, regulations on methane producing dairy cows. What a mess!!
You can see it in that picture of Los Angeles
In Vietnam, farmer could use poop and pee (mostly poop) and turn it into biogas and use that gas for cooking. You can even setting the system at your home, that not take too much space.
But I don't know why the trend has been down for a time.
Considering the fact the Netherlands is the size of a poststamp, and having a huge export of dairy products, yeah, go figure about the emissions.❤
moet emission out ofevery country in Europe…
I'll admit that while watching this video I sympathetically enjoyed some cheese I bought in a Dutch supermarket. There's something that makes a food taste better after you've just heard someone talk about it passionately. That being said the choice seems to be between "should we stop climate change from getting to the point of breaking dykes" or "should we keep making Gouda at this scale"
The answer is obvious: Keep making Gouda at this scale but charge enough to be able to afford heightening the dykes!!
(Ask your hydrologist if endlessly heightening dykes beyond the limits of physics is possible for you)
I love this I live in Gouda. Proud Dutch guy 😊
Absolutely fascinating
Gouda is my favourite! Love the Dutch!
Politicians destroying local production and importing from countries that pollute like crazy, seems to be the normal across the globe.
Gosh darn, you would think 1 million kilos would be "Gouda-nough" but they make 650...... I'm here all week guys!
Well there is an algae , when this is added to the fodder it reduces the methane to 90% without any side effects , the cows produce the milk .
Farmer-Citizen Movement spokesperson: "In 20 years where do we get our food from?", while currently about 75% is exported. There's your answer: mostly it's all about money 😢
Also by far the most efficient calories and largest parts of our diets are carbs, fruit, and veg. Dairy and meats aren't a mandatory part of our diets, and the consumption of them has skyrocketed in proportion with economic shifts. If you gave a ''well-off farmer's diet'' from 100 years ago to somebody who nowadays argues meat has always been part of our diet they'd be confused about why there's so little meat.
Truely, blessed are the cheesemakers
The farm/nitrogen policy is just an excuse to build high-density housing. Out with the cows; in with the apartment buildings.
fr
It's to control who can produce food. I'm sure the billion dollar conglomerates will be the only farms who can meet these ridiculous environmental standards.
@@crackyflipside Just like when giant carmaker VW managed to meet environmental standards with their diesel engines. . . . oh wait.
@@crackyflipsideyou got some proof?
So you don’t want to stop the growth of dairy farmers? Almost half of the Netherlands is owned by dairy farms (45%, source CBS). I’m all for farmers, and I have the upmost respect for their efficiency and for feeding the world, but the industry is getting too big.
Why can't the government issue farmers with those vacuums? Sounds much better than closing down farms.
So that they can regulate away all small farmers out of business and then that way only the big corporations can come in and monopolize the industry.
The idea of making life difficult for the small business farmers is not an accident, it's deliberate.
@@darrobinson9830 exactly. they also want the farmers gone because more people will get sick if they succeed. I only eat my food from farmers and Im in the best health I have ever been.
Im a farmer in Norway, i dont do milk, but meat, but i know there a program going around for the dairy farmers to get feed that has an element to it that reduces the nitrogen in the cow, the dairy farmer that choose to go with this options get their milk picked up by special trucks and their milk is put in different packaging since its still being "tested" and isnt the same milk people are used too, i havent tried it myself but i just might.
If it is safe and taste the same, I'm all for it. However, people will be skeptical and rightfully so.
What breed of cows doyou have?❤
@@deetgeluid some gorgeous Hereford's
If you separate poo from pee and perhaps have a communal semi free transportation system you can curb the nitrogen emissions, but that would make sense right. Beter to close farms were are real food comes from.
"female cow"?
She-cows 😏
Yes. Male cows are lesbos
Real farming and agriculture is a beautiful thing That we as people all need to go back to you
What's so stupid about the per hectare nitrogen emissions chart is that it casually leaves out that we are the densest populated country in europe
Lol, the NL isn't the densest populated country in Europe.
A high emission per hectare also means a high deposit per hectare. It's true that this is related to the population density, but it is irrelevant to the nature preserves
@@murmurrrr You're correct, it is among the densely populated countries in the world, actually. The Netherlands is ranked 4th in the world with 530 people per square km.
@@murmurrrr Yes a few microstates are more densily populated, but there is reason they get often referred to as micro states and not countries
@@murmurrrr
You're right, I'm sorry for forgetting about micro nations and city states
If the EU and the Dutch government want to take away the farmers' livelihood, how do they propose the farmers do their work?
It's so easy in this debate to point at one group and blame them. However, the truth is that this is a very complex problem for which there are no easy solutions.
Thank you for this video - it is very well made and easy to watch. I would just like to add it would be nice to this video skip the politics (section of the video) blaming the farmers and their cow's for 'environmental problems' which I'm sure can be fixed some other creative way, that their government won't research and help them figure out. Nope, these brother-owner's are likely clobbered with regulations from their government.
I can't get over the bare arms in food production
get a life, how do you think meat is delivered to you?
please do not pass on your genes.
imo
Imagine the hair that falls in😢😢
@@Aminasheik31 Hair doesn't just fall off like that
@@Aminasheik31 it's free seasoning.
we Dutch like to save money so a little free spices in our food are always appreciated.
but for real, those few hairs that enter that giant tub are negligible. if you stand at your stove stirring a pot about the same amount of hair will fall from you into the pot you're stirring.
It is an frustrating problem on one hand, as a Dutch person who loves cheese, I want these farmers and businesses to continue but I also see the damage the pollution does and that something needs to change. So we either need to science and engineer ways to lower the amount of pollution or we have to spread out the farmers. Much of the Cheese goes to surrounding EU countries, countries that are generally much larger in landmass than The Netherlands. There should be an additional solution other than taking money and closing shop and that is money to move your business to another EU nation. That way we spread out the pollution and put the production closer to the customer.
Another option is investing big into the tech that lowers pollution and sell it to the world to off set the cost and lower the price by increasing the economies of scale. Such a poop roomba only costs so much because it's build in small volumes.
Of course the limbo created by populist democracy also really doesn't help as the government can't really plan for the future, let alone make decisions that are necessary but not popular with the voters. Which hurts the economical stability of the entire country and all its businesses as every 4 years a new coalition can make a 180 on a policy that in reality takes more than 4 years to actually implement so we end up with many half assed policy implementations. This makes it impossible for businesses, like farmers, to plan for the future, to know if that big investment is actually going to be worth it. It is a major issue of populist democracy has everywhere.
No one's gonna talk about how this video was a reupload?
Part. There are updates in between some parts
Why? It's cool either way.
not relevant
Dutch farmers are the best, our farming research and education is the best.
The problem is, it has been geared towards bigger and more. Pushed by government, banks, industry.
That is unsustainable.
It should be redirected towards quality. Not that the current food is bad, but its mostly bulk.
Research should, and is, be geared not towards the last extra drop of milk, but towards the cleanest, most sustainable milk.
But...part of the solution is less farmers.
This is not new, there used to be a blacksmith in every village. Gone. Gone are also most bakers, butchers greengrocers..
Farmers have been quitting for decades also, but this lead to all other farms getting much bigger.
If sociaty changes, the economy changes, the limits are reached, we have to adapt.
Lucky for farmers the vast majority of farms are worth millions. So there is money...
💡 *why is this guy putting his bare arms in food at a food production plant, where is the health inspector*
Extra proteïne and taste
Enjoying the cheese probably
Aince you tards pay top dollar for what should be normal old cheap Gouda
Poor snail…..That crunching sound was heart breaking.
if they close the farm in the Netherlands, a new farm will appear in China producing the Gouda. And later they complain why China is the biggest exporter of Gouda.
And eventually China will start closing farms too, resulting in a better world.
yep
@@Simon-dm8zv nope
@@Simon-dm8zv Someone else will build the farm, as long as the people in the Netherlands keep eating the Gouda
@@AhmadSyarif92 It’s a pretty weak argument. If governments want to get rid of a certain industry, they will. It just takes time.
I'm Dutch and i rarely ever eat anything other than Dutch cheese 😋😋😋
He should just climb in with a bottle of wine and a book. He puts the cheese in the cheese.
yea he's swimming in it
Tell your government where to go, its time
Kinda annoying that I came for a video about cheese, and instead I got a 20 min video about Duch environmental issues.
Yep agree blame our western governments forcing this agenda onto evryone wile onpy a tiny minoriry actually agrees.....
Yeah I skipped 70% of this video
Now no one will say about "dirty hands, unhygienic, unhygienic obsession". You didn't see anything.
The actions of the Dutch government are not about reducing nitrogen concentrations. They are directly trying to reduce the production of food by eliminating livestock and disincentivizing farming. We are the carbon they want to reduce, never forget that.
Just a small thing: it weren't the famers who drained the polders, those were engineers and lots of manual labourers.
You guys must love Gouda and the Dutch to come back again for the same video but different producer lol