Free the Soil announces mass action of civil disobedience +++
YARA fertilizer production-plant to be shut down +++
action days between September 19th-25th

Brunsbüttel June 6th, 2019.

In the days between September 19th-25th, the environmental campaign Free the Soil plans to block the second largest nitrogen fertilizer production-plant in Europe, the YARA-facility in Brunsbüttel, northern Germany, with hundreds of activists from all across Europe in an action of mass civil disobedience.
They will do this to draw attention to the impact of industrial agriculture on the climate and local communities and to stop the destruction where it is happening.

“Industrial agriculture has gone under the radar far too long as a major contributor to global warming and climate change. It is damaging to the climate, as well as to communities all across the globe,” said Sara, an activist from the Free the Soil network.

The campaign points out that up to 57% of greenhouse-gas emissions can be directly linked to our food system*. “Our current food system prioritizes profit over people. It has a devastating impact on the environment, through massive deforestation and the use of pesticides and relies heavily on landgrabbing, and damaging peasant- and small scale farming all over the world, especially in the Global South,” says Andrea Wand, active in the campaign.
The fertilizer company YARA, partially owned by the Norwegian state, dominates the global market for nitrogen fertilizer. YARA is the single biggest industrial buyer of fossil-gas in Europe and has facilities in most parts of the world.

“The climate justice movement has been successful in exposing the fossil-fuel industry as climate killers. But who knows about agro-industrial companies like YARA or DuPont? They are the Shell’s and Exxon’s of agriculture, and it’s time we point that out, and shut them down!”, said Andi. “We believe that direct action is needed if we are to stop the escalating climate crisis. We need to take action into our own hands.”

YARA’s business destroys soil world-wide, forcing farmers and peasants to buy their products, while emitting enormous amounts of greenhouse-gases, explains the campaign. YARA however claims to be acting responsibly, as their slogan says: “YARA: Responsibly feeding the world and protecting the planet”.

Furthermore the campaign points out that alternatives to industrial agriculture are already carried out by strong peasant movements all over the world. They say they stand in solidarity with the peasants, small scale farmers and movements bringing forward real solutions, and everyone affected by the social and ecological destruction caused by the industrial agricultural system.

Free the Soil is an international network of activists taking action to break down the legitimacy of the agro-industry and to fight for climate justice.

// FOOD FOR PEOPLE, NOT CROPS FOR PROFIT //
// CLIMATE JUSTICE, NOT AGRO-INDUSTRY //
// RESISTANCE IS FERTILE //

 

Contact:
press-fts@riseup.net
More info on: www.freethesoil.org

* https://www.grain.org/article/entries/4357-food-and-climate-change-the-forgotten-link