058 | The Netherlands Farm Crisis
Listen to this week’s Discover Ag episode: The Netherlands Farm Crisis with Natalie Kovarik and Tara Vander Dussen now available on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio
On this week’s show, Nat and Tara are chatting about several trending news topics such as,
Milk is the Moment: Lindsay Lohan & Pilk
Industry News
Dutch Government to shut down 2000-3000 farms due to new emission plan
Whole Foods drops Maine Lobster inventory after concerning news about sustainability
Cheap meat and scare tactics
Ag Fact of the Week
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Milk the Moment: Lindsay Lohan & Pilk
This week Natalie shares about a profile on social media that recently shared their frustration about veganism while getting ready for their day. This is just another vegan that is fed up with veganism. Since the original post, she has posted several follow-up videos about her journey coming out as a non-vegan. You can find the videos from this Meat is the Moment on the Discover Ag Instagram. If you see a great post where milk or meat is the highlight, make sure to share it with us on the Discover Ag Instagram!
Agriculture Industry News
Dutch Government to Shut Down Farmers
To kick off our industry news today, the ladies are talking about the latest news coming out of the Netherlands regarding an effort to reduce their greenhouse gas emission output. Early this year the prime minister announced he wanted to cut nitrogen emissions down by 50% before 2030 and he seems willing to do just about anything to make that happen. The plan is to shut down 2000-3000 farmers start by April of next year in order to help him that goal. Natalie and Tara are concerned that while shutting down some farmers may help the short terms goals but the Netherlands is the largest exporter of meat in Europe and the fifth-largest dairy exporter in the world. That agriculture will need to made up somewhere and who knows the food insecurity problems it could cause. You can read the full article on this story here and make sure to tune in to listen to Nat and Tara’s thoughts on this subject!
Whole Foods Will no Longer Carry Maine Lobster
In seafood news, the popular grocery store franchise, Whole Foods will no longer be carrying Maine Lobster due to sustainability concerns. Towards the middle of November, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) suspended its certification of the Gulf of Maine lobster fishery effective December 15. This essentially means that any Maine Lobster sold will not be “MSC certified sustainable or carry the MSC blue fish ecolabel on products.” Now, at this point in the conversation, Natalie asks Tara about her opinion on what that really means because we know labels only do so much. The main concern is that fisheries pose a threat to the North Atlantic right whale. At the bottom of the story, it was stated that Maine Lobster fisheries are “unlikely to cause harm to right whales, mainly because of the very limited overlap between rope in the Maine fishery and right whale habitat”. You can catch the full story here.
Cheap Meat and Scare Tactics
The last news story comes to you from the New York Times (one of our “favorite”, least factual ag news outlet). This story originally came from the Ezra Klein Show, with animal rights activist guest, Leah Garces. The show is about an hour and twenty minutes so Nat and Tara do their best to recap the episode on today’s show. One of the largest takeaways is that this episode is the pinnacle of what’s wrong with the other side of agriculture and the scare tactics used to sway people’s opinions about meat and ag. There were some positives that Natalie and Tara wanted to highlight in that, she mentioned that farmers should be paid more, which is funny in itself because farmers don’t get to pick their pricing if their products aren’t going directly to the consumer. In addition, Natalie did want to give her credit for using the correct percentage for global agriculture emissions, although failed to mention the global part. The ladies had some opinions on this piece and encourage you to share your own if you’ve listened to the show. You can catch the story here.
To wrap up today’s episode, Nat and Tara cover their last segment, which is their Ag Fact of the Week, which is all about tomatoes this week. If you haven’t caught this segment then make sure to tune in!
About Discover Ag
On Discover Ag, hosts Natalie Kovarik and Tara Vander Dussen share relevant and captivating conversations in Agriculture so you can better understand the food system, and connect with the hands that feed us.
Every Thursday they highlight Agriculture in a modern and fun way, giving their professional farming opinions on a mix of entertainment, facts, and trending news articles. Discover Ag has been described as a Mike Rowe/The Way I Heard It meets Claudia Oshry/Morning Toast and Natalie and Tara are very much on board with that analogy. Tune in every week, so you can Discover Ag!
