At a moment when farmers are revolting against the EU Malthusian policies, Italy’s major producer of wheat and sugar beets, the Emilia-Romagna region, and third major producer of barley, rice, fruit, and wine, has passed a bill to pay farmers between €500-€1,500 per hectare for not producing. The decision is consistent with the recent agreement among EU Council, EU Commission, and European Parliament on so-called “nature restoration,” by taking down agriculture, and it is no surprise that the pro-EU, liberal Democatic Party-ruled Emilia Romagna region is the first to implement such guidelines.
For a starter, the replacement of farmland with swamps involves only a tiny area to be “renaturalized.” The money allocated is €4 million, which would cover an average 4,000 hectares, representing 0.4% of the total cultivated land in Emiglia Romagna, which is, in total, more than 1 million ha.
