I was featured in the Winnipeg Sun by columnist Harry Siemens, about my recent speech at the CropConnect Conference in Winnipeg, Canada. Here’s an excerpt:

When speaking to producers in Winnipeg, Wirtz shared his long-standing concerns about the European Union’s Farm-to-Fork Strategy. He recalled his initial reaction at the intro of the policy, saying, “I should get a t-shirt made where it says, ‘I told you so.’”

He explained, “When I read Farm-to-Fork for the first time, I wrote a piece for Euractiv, a European media outlet, and said, ‘This is a political utopia. This makes no sense whatsoever. This is disastrous.’”

Wirtz faced pushback, as policymakers and industry leaders insisted, “No, we have to work with the European Commission on this. The goals are good. They might be too ambitious, but ultimately, we all want the same thing.” However, he firmly disagreed, stating, “I said, no, this is nonsense. It’s going to cost a fortune and achieve nothing.”

At CropConnect, Wirtz explained that recent farmer protests resulted from a growing realization of the actual effects of these policies. He warned, “If you want to reduce the number of farmers in Europe, well, you can’t exactly do it voluntarily.” He pointed to the Dutch government’s failed attempt to buy out farmers at fair market prices as an example of how difficult and costly such measures are in practice.

You can read the entire article here.