Veg shortages

I am lucky to have some land and a poly tunnel so I grow quite a lot of veg here, I like to grow my own as I know they are organic and not modified reproductions designed to look good on supermarket shelves. I think the taste is better especially when food is harvested and eaten rather than ripening after harvest in the time taken to get it to market, so it looks perfect. The down side is my veg doesn't look perfect.

Anyway, you may have heard about the Dutch farmers protesting against the Dutch government's plan to buy up and shut down almost 3,000 farms in a bid to meet tough EU greenhouse gas emissions targets. I think their reasoning in EU emissions targets does not make sense, if  Holland stops producing fruit and veg then it will be sourced from countries outside the region which will have longer distances to travel to market and therefore increase C02 emissions in both the transport and other regions. This is just posturing, outsourcing carbon emissions and not reducing them.   

Holland has problems with its water quality, some of which no doubt, is caused by intensive farming. The pesticides, chemicals and fertilisers used in intensive farming could be eradicated by organic farming which would keep farms in business, this would mean a lot less product per acre and result in a product demanding a lot higher price, but better resulting water quality. 

The problem is people are used to buying tasteless perfect shaped fruit and veg at very cheap prices, the fact that most of the products have been genetically modified to fill the market brief seems to go right over peoples heads but that's another story.  

Getting rid of farmers in the EU to satisfy emissions targets will make food less available, more expensive and higher in C02 emissions because of the distances it has to be transported. The targets will not help global warming.   

I hope we will see a rise in farmers markets soon and people embracing good nutritious, tasty products that are grown in their local area, without a middleman, and that the WEF plans for everyone to eat insects and even more modified veg, gets the thumb down from everyone.