One of the misconceptions in the fight against climate change is that farmers often oppose switching to practices that protect the environment.
Starting from this premise, the climate subject is often seen as a confrontation between cities and rural areas. City dwellers are portrayed as climate advocates, fighting to reduce polluting emissions and contain global warming.
This narrative is supported by the fact that electric vehicles so far have been adopted largely by residents of cities and affluent suburbs, giving the impression they are the ones who most care about climate change.
Further reinforcing the view is that many farmers are very slow to change their practices as they try to meet the ever-increasing demand for their products. They continue to use fertilizers that harm the environment.
What gets lost here is that farmers have often asked for transitional measures, subsidies and time to transform their activities and practices to be more eco-friendly.
'Don't Need to Put Farmers Out of Work': Musk
Given this context, a conservationist like Elon Musk might be expected to oppose farmers.
The Tesla (TSLA) CEO has just presented a plan to achieve a sustainable economy, which will eliminate gasoline-powered vehicles in favor of electric vehicles. This will reduce polluting emissions from the automotive industry.
"We're trying to convey a message of hope and optimism that is based on actual physics and real calculations," Musk told Tesla's investors on March 1. "No, it's not wishful thinking. Earth can and will move to a sustainable energy economy and will do so in your lifetime."
In fact, the billionaire has just sent a message of support to farmers facing new environmental requirements. He says fighting climate change does not mean waging war on farmers. For Musk, defense of the climate at the cost of farmers losing their work is unacceptable.
So he declared in a thread on Twitter, in support of the demonstrations of farmers in Belgium on March 3.
"Belgium… farmers have had enough of this climate fraud. RESIST 🔥🔥🔥" a Twitter user posted on March 3, with a short video of the farmer protest.
Musk took advantage of this post to give his position on this hot topic.
"I’m super pro climate," Musk said. "But we definitely don’t need to put farmers out of work to solve climate change. Not at all."
The Issue: Nitrogen Emitted by Fertilizers
Contrary to the tweet that prompted the billionaire's position, Belgian farmers do not reject climate efforts. Their anger is related to a plan, being discussed within the Flemish government, that's intended to reduce nitrogen emissions and threatens to close the farms deemed to be the most polluting.
Nitrogen is a greenhouse gas emitted in particular by fertilizers and livestock effluents. Flanders is a region of intensive farming, especially pig farms, like the neighboring Netherlands, where similar projects have also aroused anger in the agricultural world.
The Flemish farmers want to pressure their regional government, which is torn about this issue. A year ago the ruling coalition in the region had reached an agreement that allowed the release of European aid to help breeders adapt to new environmental standards.
This aid is now called into question by a partner in the coalition asking to reopen discussions on the so-called nitrogen plan.
According to the local media, the initial plan called for closure by 2025 of 41 intensive farms located near protected areas. And it obligated thousands of others to take measures to reduce their nitrogen emissions, in particular by livestock reduction.
