It is the sound the Netherlands knows all too well. Horns blaring and diesel engines rumbling as hundreds of tractors roll into town. On Monday it was Ommen.

Footage obtained by cbinews.tv shows a huge convoy of tractors rumbling through the streets of Ommen on Monday, with residents lining the pavements to watch. The procession later parked up in the town square right outside the town hall. Peaceful, noisy and impossible to ignore.

In June, the Dutch government revealed its latest nitrogen package. The plan sets emissions targets at farm level, introduces a new land-based limit of around two point six livestock units per hectare, and brings in tougher rules for farms closest to vulnerable Natura 2000 nature sites.

The official announcement says the package is backed by more than twenty billion euros in funding. Ministers say it is needed to cut nitrogen, restore damaged nature and finally unblock permits for farming, housing and construction.

Farmers see it very differently. They are calling on The Hague to scrap the new plans and protect existing permits for agricultural businesses. Many fear the proposals will force them to cut herds massively or shut down altogether.

This row has been rumbling for years. The Netherlands has been in a full-blown nitrogen crisis since a landmark 2019 Council of State ruling that found its nitrogen policy breached EU law. That ruling froze thousands of building and farming permits overnight.

Why is the Netherlands so affected? It has the densest livestock population in Europe, with more than one hundred million cattle, pigs and chickens kept on about fifty-four thousand farms.

Livestock farming accounts for roughly forty percent of all nitrogen deposition in the country, mainly through ammonia from manure. Cattle account for more than sixty percent of that ammonia.

Previous attempts to fix it sparked the huge tractor protests of 2022 that made headlines around the world.

Since then, the government has tried voluntary buyout schemes, with the EU approving plans worth one point four seven billion euros in 2023, but it is now shifting back to mandatory farm-level targets.

Monday’s action in Ommen was not a one-off. As cbinews.tv has been reporting, it follows a fresh wave of farmer demonstrations that started again across the Netherlands in late July. If history is anything to go by, this could be just first gear.

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