Dutch government plans to drastically cut emissions of nitrogen pollution cleared a key hurdle Tuesday when the European Union's executive arm gave the green light to farm buyout schemes worth nearly 1.5 billion euros ($1.65 billion).
The plans to reduce nitrogen deposits — mainly by livestock farms — on EU-designated areas of vulnerable nature have sparked heated debate and widespread protests by angry farmers in this small nation that is a major producer and exporter of farm products. Dutch agricultural exports were worth 122.3 billion euros last year, according to the national statistics office.
