Political ecologies of Dutch protein strategies

The global food regime crucially revolves around the circulation and metabolism of proteins, notably soy. In the context of ecological crisis, faltering supply chains and rising populism, European countries are developing a National Protein Strategy (NPS) for addressing their crucial dependency on the import of vegetal proteins. This paper aims to understand how the metabolic politics of protein is (re)shaped in the context of geopolitical turmoil, environmental and climate crises. It focuses on the case of the NPS of the Netherlands, a major hub for the global livestock complex, grappling with ecological crises and the rise of right-wing populism in the context of agricultural transformations. Through a genealogical policy analysis, extending the concept of metabolic politics, this paper reveals how the governance of protein circulation at various scales has shifted to more comprehensive protein strategies, integrating different policy domains, but is increasingly challenged by the rise of right-wing agrarian populism, aligned with the interests of livestock industries.