Farmers quit their fields and hit the streets of New Zealand’s cities on Thursday in countrywide protests against the country’s so-called animal “burp and fart” tax. The AFP news agency reports that earlier this month, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern touted a “world first” levy on emissions of methane and nitrous oxide produced by the nation’s six million cows and 26 million sheep as a step to tackling climate change. But the thousands of protesting farmers say the policy “stinks” and warn that the tax would make food more costly, while putting their livelihoods at risk.
