There’s palpable frustration on farms in Europe and it’s spilling from the countryside into political action – and success. The BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB) in the Netherlands, also known as the Farmer-Citizen Movement, has in five years grown from grassroots to gaining the largest percentage of votes in the Netherlands provincial elections last spring. It is now […] Read more
Tag Archives protests
Opinion: Farmer frustration finds political success in Europe
Protesting Greek farmers drive tractors to parliament
Farmers to add pressure on gov., which has offered power bill discount, extension of fuel rebate
Farmers from across Greece drove their tractors to Athens on Tuesday, stepping up weeks of protests over rising costs, foreign competition and catastrophic flooding.
German farmers protest with tractors against austerity measures
The German government proposed to abolish fuel subsidies to meet savings targets
According to next year's budget, a partial tax refund on agricultural diesel, along with a tax exemption for agricultural vehicles, will be abolished to meet the saving targets - a measure farmers said would threaten their livelihood and the competitiveness of Germany's agricultural sector.
Anti-activist bill back before Commons committee
Bill adds protections for biosecurity, farmers' mental health, Barlow says
A bill to create harsher penalties for unlawful entry onto farms and biosecure zones is back before the House of Commons after a previous iteration died on the order table in 2021. Conservative MP John Barlow brought forward Bill C-275, “an Act to amend the Health of Animals Act (biosecurity on farms),” as a private […] Read more
Rajapaksa dynasty draws to humiliating close in Sri Lanka
Food shortages, fertilizer ban among flashpoints
Colombo | Reuters — The Rajapaksa dynasty dominated Sri Lankan politics until April when street protests against fuel and food shortages began to slip out of control. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country early on Wednesday, leaving no one from the once-illustrious family in a position of power. The president vowed last month to stay […] Read more
Comment: Protests could be a PR disaster for rural Canada
Urban Canadians, policy makers should take rural Canada seriously, but discussion has to be reasonable
There are cultural and political divisions between Canada’s rural and urban populations at the best of times, but the past 12 to 24 months have not been the best of times. Though the border and Ottawa protests are now over, the fallout from the events has the potential to reinforce divisions with rebar and concrete. […] Read more
Editorial: Let’s pick our battles wisely
What began as a “Freedom Convoy” of a small group of truckers driving to Ottawa to protest against the Jan. 15 mandate that Canadian truckers need to be vaccinated to cross the U.S. border quickly escalated into a weeks-long rally in the downtown core of the nation’s capital. Even before the trucks arrived groups looking […] Read more
Alberta border blockade expected to disperse Tuesday
Decision comes amid arrests, reported violence at blockade
Amid reports of violence involving a farm tractor and trucks — and seizures of weapons — the protest blockade that shut Alberta’s busiest U.S. trade corridor is reported to be winding down starting Tuesday. Several media outlets on Monday quoted organizers of the blockade at the Canada-U.S. border crossing at Coutts, Alta. as saying they […] Read more
Son of India government minister arrested, accused of killing farmers
Junior home minister's son was 'not co-operating' in probe
Lucknow | Reuters — Ashish Mishra, son of junior home minister Ajay Mishra Teni, has been arrested on accusations he ran over and killed four protesting farmers last week, a senior police official said. The farmers, killed on Oct. 3 in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, were part of India’s longest-running agricultural protest, opposing […] Read more
Ontario farmers protest strict regional worker COVID protocols
Inconsistent application of standards puts some farmers at a disadvantage
Farmers reliant on foreign workers are becoming more active in protesting regional variations in worker protocols relating to COVID-19. They took their tractors to Simcoe streets recently to protest regional quarantine requirements and a federal switch in testing procedures. Farmers in Haldimand and Norfolk counties are especially concerned with steps taken by their local medical […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
