Anthony Pahnke from Family Farm Defenders recently appeared on Common Dreams.
Dumping manure in public spaces, hurling eggs at government buildings, blocking major roads—the European farmers who have taken to the streets to challenge free trade policies sure know how to raise a ruckus.
Their public disruption also produced results.
French farmers, for instance, managed to persuade their nation’s leaders to ban food imports treated with thiacloprid, dedicate €150 million (~$163 million) annually to support livestock producers, and provide European-wide definitions for what constitutes lab-grown meat. German farmers also saw movement in their favor from their lawmakers on fuel subsidies. When protests reached Brussels—where the European Parliament was in session—European Union policymakers announced plans to cushion the blow from Ukraine grain imports and address bureaucratic red tape. Seeing such gains as only the beginning, Spanish, Italian, and Flemish farmers vow to remain in the streets.
Decades of promoting such free trade initiatives have not been kind to farmers, especially in Europe.
Thus far, the protests offer some takeaways for food and farm activists.