Millions of cows, pigs and chickens help to make the Netherlands an agricultural powerhouses. But the animals that contribute to €105bn in annual farm exports also generate something less desirable: alarming levels of nitrogen emissions from their waste.
As emissions hit legal limits, the Dutch government has a drastic solution to its growing pollution problem. It wants to cut livestock numbers by a third, buying out farmers to close down production as part of its plan to halve emissions by 2030.
Farmers are livid. Since the plans were announced in June they have picketed supermarket distribution centres, blockaded roads, airports and train stations, and dumped slurry at the home of the minister in charge of the programme, Christianne van der Wal. Dozens have been arrested.