A Dutch flag flown upside down in protest against the government's nitrogen policy on a farm in Hazerswoude, Netherlands.

A Dutch flag flown upside down in protest against the government's nitrogen policy on a farm in Hazerswoude, Netherlands.

Photographer: Peter Boer/Bloomberg
The Big Take

Rebel Farmers Are Pushing Back on Climate Action. This is Why

Curbing the environmental impact of agriculture will put farmers from the Netherlands to New Zealand out of business. They’re resisting. 

It took an existential threat to turn a fifth-generation dairy farmer into an anti-government protester.

Bart Kooijman raises 120 cows on 50 hectares in western Holland. If authorities push ahead with plans to halve nitrogen emissions from agriculture by 2030, his could be among thousands of farms that will have to shrink or close.