Thousands of Dutch farmers have blocked highways and food distribution centres to protest plans to reduce livestock numbers by a third. Photo: Twitter

FARMERS in The Netherlands have had a major win at the country’s recent provincial elections after a year of protesting the Government’s plans to close 3000 farms.

Many news organisation are projecting the BoerBurgerBeweging party, or the farmer-citizen movement to claim the most seats in the country’s senate, giving it power to block legislation.

Tensions have been high in the European country, with farmers blocking supermarket distribution centres with tractors and lighting silage bags on fire last year to protest the government’s plans to halve nitrogen run-off by 2030.

The nitrogen legislation was set to be the catalyst for closing 2000-3000 farms and decreasing livestock numbers by 25pc.

BBB made scrapping the 2030 deadline one of the main points of its campaign, with government maintaining that it still plans to press ahead with the legislation.

The party was founded in 2019 by agricultural journalist Caroline van der Plas. According to news outlet DW her victory speech was about the party making people get up and vote.

“Normally, if people no longer trust the government, they stay home,” Ms van der Plas said.

“Today they showed they don’t want to stay at home — they want their voices to be heard.”

The Netherlands is one of the most intensively farmed parts of Europe, is one of the world’s largest exporters of dairy and a major exporter of beef.

But the industry has at least a loud opposition within the country, with one council voting to ban the public advertising of red meat on the basis of it being a cause of climate change.

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