Brickbat: What a Load of Manure

The European Commission has given the Netherlands the OK to begin forced buyouts of some 3,000 farmers, part of the government's efforts to meet European Union nitrogen pollution-reduction goals. Farmers who are bought out will be banned from returning to farming not only in the Netherlands but anywhere in the European Union. The Netherlands is the second-largest global agricultural exporter, and Dutch farmers are some of the most efficient and productive in the world.