Fake “Farmer Willi” part of an international fake parade | “Grassroots” defenders of pesticides and GMOs keep on faking it! | Five thousand tractors caused severe disruption in Berlin last week as farmers protested against the German government’s environmental protection policies. These include plans to limit the use of fertiliser in order to tackle nitrate pollution in groundwater, and to phase out glyphosate by 2023 to protect biodiversity.
Meet fake Farmer Willi
One of the German government’s most outspoken critics is Dr Wilhelm Kremer-Schillings, or “Farmer Willi”, as he styles himself. Through his blogging and campaigning against pesticide restrictions, in favour of GMOs, and in defence of companies like Bayer/Monsanto, he has become one of Germany’s best known farmers.
And Farmer Willi is a man of action, not just words. Prior to the Berlin protest, he led farmers across Germany in pounding large green crosses into their fields in a highly visible protest against the environmental policies he says will be a deathblow for Germany’s agricultural sector.
But according to an article in the German newspaper Taz, a more accurate nickname for Kremer-Schillings might be “Chemical Willi”. That’s because, despite promoting himself as a small farmer working a “traditional farm” in the Lower Rhine, his career turns out to have involved very little active farming and a great deal of working with agrichemical interests.
Taz says this included a stint in the chemicals division of the Schering Group, later taken over by Bayer, as a project manager for Betanal – a weedkiller suspected of causing cancer. Kremer-Schillings also advised farmers on pesticides for the sugar producer Pfeifer & Langen. And he has served first as Chairman and now Vice Chairman of Buir-Bliesheimer Agrargenossenschaft eG, a sizeable farm cooperative (annual turnover: 120 million euros) that trades heavily in fertiliser and pesticides, like glyphosate.
The green cross and Berlin protests aimed to challenge the government’s plans to impose restrictions on these farm chemicals. And interestingly, Willi’s company tops the list of sponsors that the Berlin protest organisers thanked for their support. ...
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