The farmers’ organization Agerskovgruppen plans to demonstrate against the government’s upcoming carbon tax. The organization warns that it will block roads with “hundreds” of tractors if “this madness does not stop”.
The Danish farmers’ organization says it is now ready to take action against the planned “CO2 tax”, a new part of the government’s climate policy that will require farmers to pay fees for all forms of CO2 emissions.
– We are ready to act and roll towards Copenhagen with hundreds of tractors from all over the country to protest against a unilateral and unprofessional and therefore illegal Danish carbon tax on agriculture and food production. And we will do so if this madness does not stop, says chairman Jens Peter Aggesen in a press release.
Aggesen argues that such a tax will in practice mean that Danes will have to eat foreign food from countries where there are no such taxes on food production.
– And this will not save a single bit of the planet’s total greenhouse gas emissions – quite the opposite, he says.
“We have been too kind”
In other European countries, farmers are fighting tax increases, tax breaks, and other environmental policies that they say are hurting agriculture in their countries. Angry farmers in Germany, France and Belgium, among others, have protested by blocking roads.
– The frustration is enormous, and we understand that our fellow farmers in other EU countries are also demonstrating to ensure the survival of their businesses. If, as we fear, the Danish politicians plan a unilateral and high fixed tax on all CO2 emitted from food production in Denmark, we will move to Christiansborg and block the capital with our tractors. We have been too nice for too long, he says.
