Australia may be about to sign a pledge to cut methane emissions, while in New Zealand, the government is considering a tax on farmers to force emissions down.
In the Netherlands, the government is already buying back farms and wants to cut the size of the herd by 30 per cent to meet commitments made in the 1980s. So, are there lessons for Australia?
The Netherlands is a small country with a big population of people and livestock.
There are 35,000 farmers and a cattle herd of more than 1.5 million.
Emissions of ammonia and nitrogen from cows, pigs and chickens have been polluting the environment for decades. In 2019, the Dutch High Court ruled the country was in breach of commitments made to the European Union in the 1980s.
The government announced it would address that ruling by cutting emissions of nitrogen and ammonia from farms by 50 per cent in just eight years.
In June, it decided to buy back 500–600 of the most-polluting farms and reduce the herd by 30 per cent.
It is a radical step in a country that relies on agricultural exports and has a proud history of farming.
Government policies trigger farm protests
In response, farmers took to the streets to block roads and food distribution centres with their tractors, dumped garbage – including asbestos – on highways, and torched bales of hay.
Throughout the country, Dutch flags are being flown upside-down from farmhouses to signal the dissatisfaction with government policies.
Jeroen van Maanen from the Dutch Dairy Farmers Association explained in a YouTube video why farmers were so angry.
"We have to leave our land ... we have to reduce our national herd ... farms will break down, 30, 40, 50 per cent of farmers fear for their future," he said.
Journalist Marc van der Sterren, who is the son of a Dutch farmer, said the protesters went too far.
"I was a bit ashamed of those protests ... they burned things on the street, they threatened a minister," he said.
"If you go to a private house of a minister to threaten her and her family, I think you go too far."
Why is nitrogen a problem?
When livestock produces manure and it mixes with urine, it releases ammonia, a nitrogen compound.
If it gets into the waterways, it can damage sensitive habitats and cause algae blooms.
There are similar problems in Australia where fertiliser run-off from farms can leach into rivers, triggering massive fish kills on the inland rivers or environmental problems, as seen in Queensland's Great Barrier Reef.
In the Netherlands, it is a much bigger problem due to the country's size.
Cow manure from barns and ammonia are collected and recycled onto paddocks to grow the feed for the cows, but the nitrogen in the manure can leach into the environment.
Andrew McKillop, a Nuffield Scholar who works as national quality control manager for Australian avocado export company Avolution, visited the Netherlands in June to look at Dutch agriculture.
On the trip, he and the other agricultural scholarship winners witnessed the farming systems used in the Netherlands, where more than 50 per cent of the country sits four metres below sea level.
"Where you've got a lot of nitrogen either being applied or a lot of nitrogen and ammonia being produced, something has to give somewhere," Mr McKillop said.
Will the farmers win?
Sjoerd Hofstee is a rural reporter in the Netherlands who covered the court case and the protests.
He said these policies had created a rift within rural communities.
"They had a feeling that the government is regulating how to deal with rural areas, so this is not only [a] battle between the farmers and government, but also a struggle between who has the rights on the countryside," Mr Hofstee said.
Mr Hofstee said he did not think the Dutch farmers had much chance of keeping their farms, despite the protests.
"In the end, I think the farmers will lose the battle," he said.
Mr Hofstee said a government-appointed mediator ultimately confirmed the government's plan to reduce emissions by 50 per cent by 2030, and it was likely that the protests would start again when the farm buybacks commenced.
"That will produce a lot of stress, and more radical farmer groups will say they have crossed the line and will protest again," he said.
A warning for Australian farmers
While farming systems and the debate over sustainability is very different in Australia, Andrew McKillop has this warning for farmers about what could be coming down the policy pipeline.
"It's a never-ending minefield," he said.
"Any farmer not reducing their fungicide, pesticide, chemical or fertiliser use is probably not keeping an eye on their bottom line."
