The GuardianThe Guardian

Have we reached ‘peak meat’? Why one country is trying to limit its number of livestock

By Senay Boztas

16 Jan 2023 · 7 min read

Editor's Note

Dutch farms are feeling the squeeze from EU environmental rules and some need to make drastic cuts to their livestock. The Guardian asks: Could a huge producer like the U.S. follow suit?

Ingrid de Sain is one of thousands of dairy farmers in the Netherlands who says she sometimes lies awake at night. Since a court ruling in 2019 which found the Dutch were breaking European environmental law, her farm of 100 cows in north Holland has been illegal.

Like the other 2,500-plus farmers whose environmental permission was suddenly invalid, she wants a future where she can earn a living and farm legally again.

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