World Economic Forum’s Agricultural Revolution

It was just half a decade ago when Canadian truckers drove downtown Ottawa into gridlock to protest Covid restrictions. The stakes were high, and they knew that the entire world was watching.

We watched, and we were able to see that protestors exposed the Canadian government’s authoritarian nature. They also revealed the Trudeau administration’s insatiable hunger for power as well as concern for the wellbeing of their citizens. The greatest achievement of the protest was its message to the rest of the world. Despite all of the planning done by our politicians, they still depend on “little people .”

“.

Farmers in Holland are following in the footsteps of Canadian truckers, but they’re taking the strategy to the next level. They aren’t only blocking traffic; they spray manure onto government offices and official’s homes and set fire to hay bales in the median of highways.

They’ve been doing this for weeks, to varying degrees. Their parliament is considering a bill that would drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions by forcing the sale of farmland owned for many years, in certain cases, for hundreds. This would require farms to kill large numbers of herds that are healthy. It would ultimately mean that many small farms will lose their income.

This is a Dutch Government admission. According to ABC News

The ruling coalition wants to cut emissions of pollutants, predominantly nitrogen oxide and ammonia, by 50% nationwide by 2030…. ‘The honest message…is that not all farmers can continue their business,’ and those who do will likely have to farm differently, the government said in a statement this month as it unveiled emission reduction targets.

It is a big mistake for government officials to inform hardworking citizens they have been forced out of work by a government in order to meet an unspecified deadline. But, the Dutch government ultimately made that decision. So who is this “ruling coalition,” and what’s so special about the year 2030?

Mark Rutte, the prime minister of the Netherlands, just last year proudly announced to the world that “the Netherlands will host the Global Coordinating Secretariat of the Food Innovation Hubs.” According to InvestInHolland.com, Food Innovation Hubs are the “flagship initiative of WEF’s [World Economic Forum] Food Action Alliance.” The purpose of the Food Action Alliance, according to the World Economic Forum press release announcing its launch, is to “brin[g] together the international community to tackle an urgent historic challenge: to reshape the way we think, produce, supply and consume food.”

The press release continues to state that ,

Partners in the Food Action Alliance believe that fragmentation within the current food system represents the most significant hurdle to feeding a growing population nutritiously and sustainably. To transform how food is made, consumed and sold we need to develop new partnerships and business models.

What is the truth about “fragmented” in today’s “current food system?”

What is “fragmented” about the current food system? It should be clear that they cannot change the current “food system” unless they are able to coerce its parts to work for them.

A little further on they explain this clearly as well as giving more motivation for the controversial Dutch decision:

Today’s agricultural supply chain, from farm to fork, accounts for between 21% to 37% of greenhouse gas emissions. The food system has many inefficiencies. One-third of the food supply chain is wasted, which amounts to approximately $1 trillion. Many methods of farming that increase output and thus farmer incomes are successful, but deplete the natural resources like soils and forests and make them less sustainable over time.

It is true that wise farmers turn the crops in order to replenish nutrients and allow for future crop growth. But the WEF announcement highlights the tension: There is a conflict between higher yields and greater sustainability. The WEF’s Food Action Alliance, including the Dutch Prime Minister Rutte, has proposed to link these two conflicting goals. This cannot be achieved when individual farmers make their decisions. It is the preferred system to “achieve a vision of efficient, sustainable and inclusive, nutritious, healthy and food systems. The FAA brings together all stakeholders–governments, businesses, farmers associations, international organisations, civil society, academia–to mobilize an agenda for countries towards meeting the SDGs.

The WEF’s “New Vision for Agriculture” reveals at least a part of those SDGs: “The Sustainable Development Goals will call for ending world hunger and ensuring sustainable food systems by 2030.” Note the year; it’s the same goal as is presented by the Dutch legislation. Whatever those “sustainable foods systems” may be, it means less farmland and fewer livestock.

The Netherlands is, despite being only twice as large as New Jersey’s, the 2nd largest agricultural exporter. While the Netherlands is home to a large amount of horticulture, it is also an important exporter of fruits, vegetables and meat. Dutch farming techniques are innovative and highly efficient.

The World Economic Forum has praised Dutch agriculture as a shining example of how future farming should be done. Several decades ago, the Netherlands adopted a sort of mission statement: “Twice as much food using half as many resources.” And they’ve taken that goal seriously, developing new “precision farming” methods which have reduced water dependence by as much as 90 percent for some crops. The Dutch have brought the farm inside for some crops like tomatoes.

A 2019 WEF article gushes:

Since 2011, it has been using geothermal energy to heat its greenhouses, and the plants grow in a hydroponic system to use less water. The tomatoes are grown in tiny bags of rockwool substrate. This is made by spinning together basaltic rock into fine fibers. It contains nutrients, and the plant can absorb water even at low moisture levels.

The greenhouses do not use pesticides. The farm also pipes CO2 from the local Shell oil refinery into the greenhouses, which is essential for plants to thrive. This reduces carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. The greenhouse features a double-glazed roof that conserves heat and LED lights. This allows the plants to grow through the night.

The article offers a rallying cry. “It is crucial that the innovative agricultural techniques used in countries such as the Netherlands are scaled-up and spread worldwide. For future gains .”

, we only need to allocate resources short-term.

How can Mark Rutte (a major player in the WEF’s favorite agricultural project, and the prime minister of the most technologically advanced agriculture producer in the world), commit these resources, when the food system is currently so fractured? How can Justin Trudeau, Canada’s PM, defragment their countries’ food systems?

In March of this year, Canada also announced an initiative to slash greenhouse gas emissions associated with fertilizer by 2030. The press release explained,

Subscribe Today

Get weekly emails in your inbox

The Government is focused on meeting this emissions reduction target through a range of policy measures and approaches, such as working with farmers to encourage broader adoption of new products and implementation of beneficial management practices, resulting in both economic benefits for farmers and environmental benefits for society. Industry stakeholders will be crucial to Canada’s ability to reach the goal without compromising its crop yields.

The government’s goal is to meet a specific target, which will need ongoing support from agriculture. Rutte, like a mechanic tuning his car to get a few more horsepower, is determined to push his small techno-agricultural engine into the prototype for WEF’s new Vision for Agriculture. Trudeau and other leaders around the world are encouraging their farmers to do the same.

The “little people”, western democracies, who provide food for their citizens aren’t crazy about asking: Who are our leaders in our countries? Do they take us where we want?