John Kerry did not declare war on American farmers for the sake of climate change

The little phrase was never uttered. However, on social networks, in France as in the United States, screenshots of a supposedly verified article title on the fact that the democrat John Kerry “declares war on American farmers. Government confiscations of farms “are not to be ruled out,” he reportedly said. “The farms could be confiscated by the government… to save the planet”, indignantly a surfer on Facebook.

“Small farms are big nitrogen emitters, says Biden’s ‘climate czar’ John Kerry, […] the American federal government is cracking down on agriculture in America to fight against pseudo global warming, ”alarms another Internet user.

FAKE OFF

But these words or intentions attributed to John Kerry, United States special envoy for the climate, are false. After a reverse image search, we found the original publication of This article, which was published on The People’s Voice, a site familiar with fake quotes. He had already done it for Barack Obama.

The article, published on May 17, 2023, reproduces some remarks made by John Kerry at the summit of the Mission for Agricultural Innovation for Climate. He said, for example, on May 10 in Washington that “hardly anyone knows that agriculture contributes about 33% of greenhouse gas emissions” and that carbon neutrality cannot be achieved if “the agriculture is not central.

But the special climate envoy never said or even implied that the US government wanted to confiscate farms to reduce emissions from the agricultural sector, as we could see listening to his speech, still visible on YouTube (between 21 and 43 minutes).

“A close partnership with American farmers”

Nor was this affirmed during the summit, which was held from May 8 to 10 in Washington DC. Nor is it a position supported by John Kerry, a door-keeper tells us. word of the United States State Department, which we contacted. The special envoy believes that “solving the climate crisis will require close collaboration and partnership with American farmers – who are already facing the effects of worsening extreme weather conditions”, adds the spokesperson.

And this will require investments to provide “technical and financial assistance, deploy innovative technologies and expand the reach of other tools to build resilience to climate impacts while reducing greenhouse gas pollution”, adds he.

For example, in his speech, John Kerry spoke of the need for innovation to obtain “nutrient-rich crops that withstand unprecedented heat and drought conditions”. “We need to put these technical solutions in the hands of small farmers around the world,” he pleaded.

No confiscation of farms in the Netherlands

The People’s Voice article also refers to the plan to buy back agricultural land, which has been put in place in the Netherlands, which would be the beginnings of what would be planned in the United States. But at the summit, John Kerry also made no reference to buying back farmland, the spokesman said.

This Dutch government project also arouses a number of fantasies. Thus, the article in The People’s Voice refers to “the Dutch government’s proposal to confiscate and close many farms to comply with the objectives of the global climate agenda”. However, no confiscation is planned: this plan, whose budget of 1.5 billion euros was validated by the European Commission in May, provides for the possibility of buying farms from farmers who wish to sell them. The aim is to reduce nitrogen emissions due, for example, to pig, poultry or dairy farming.

The sum will be used to compensate farmers who voluntarily close small or medium-sized farms located near nature reserves “provided that their current nitrogen deposition load exceeds certain minimum levels”, underlines a press release from the European Commission. This measure should contribute to the European Green Deal.