On: The Abstinence Method – Dutch farmers say no to antibiotics for livestock

[Someone]

Is it? Looking at http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_sect..., the USA's agricultiral sector is 1.12% of GDP, while the Dutch one is 2.8%. One could argue that relative size buys lobbying power.

[camillomiller → Someone]

I think you're arguing wrong. First: there's not so much lobbying in Northern Europe countries. Second: you should look at the size of the food and distribution industries, more than the agricultural sector

[Someone → camillomiller]

The power you get for lobbying is not directly proportional to the amount of money you spend on it; if there is less competition, lobbying will be more efficient. That's why I question the claim that the lobbying is more powerful in the USA, compared to that in the Netherlands.

Second: the Dutch food and distribution industries are quite sizable. Looking at http://www.iamexpat.nl/read-and-discuss/expat-page/news/dutc...:

"The agricultural sector in the Netherlands constitutes around 10 per cent of the Dutch economy and employs more than 660.000 people, 50.000 of which are farmers."

[mcv → camillomiller]

There's plenty of lobbying in northern Europe, but in the US, there's even more.