Manure

Inside the barn on the flat fields of the northern Netherlands, Jos Ubels cradles a newborn Blonde d'Aquitaine calf, the latest addition to his herd of over 300 dairy cattle.

Little could be more idyllic. Little, says Ubels, could be more under threat.

Farmers threw beets, sprayed manure at police and set hay alight on Tuesday as hundreds of tractors again sealed off streets close to the European Union headquarters, where agriculture ministers sought to ease a crisis that has led to months of protests across the 27-member bloc.

Farmers threw beets and sprayed manure at police on Tuesday as hundreds of tractors again sealed off streets close to the European Union headquarters, where agriculture ministers sought to ease a crisis that has led to months of protests across the 27-member bloc.

On a farm in northern Belgium, not far from the hundreds of tractors blocking Europe's second-biggest port to demand more respect for farmers, Bart Dochy was switching on his computer, waiting for a government program to load with maps of his land next to empty digital boxes demanding to be filled with statistics on fertilizer, pesticides, production and harvesting.

Within the scope of a school project, a group of high school students in the northwestern province of Bursa has succeeded in producing paper from manure made out of cow dung, bagging an award in a national competition.

Dutch farmers dealt a blow to Prime Minister Mark Rutte's environmental plans on March 15, ploughing up the political landscape to win elections that will shape the upper house of parliament.

Exit polls showed the Farmer-Citizen Movement (BoerBurgerBeweging, BBB), which was founded less than four years ago, riding a wave of recent protests to win the most seats in the Dutch senate.

French farmers protesting over falling food prices threatened to step up blockades of cities, roads and tourist sites on July 22, as the government prepared to unveil emergency aid for them.

Farmers have dumped manure in cities, blocked access roads and motorways and hindered tourists from reaching Mont St-Michel in northern France, one of France's most visited sites.