This morning, CD&V launched the proposal that agricultural land should remain in the hands of farmers and therefore no longer be purchased by government agencies or nature organizations. Agricultural organizations General Farmers Syndicate (ABS) and Boerenbond already support CD&V’s proposal.
However, Environment Minister Zuhal Demir (N-VA) accuses CD&V that the proposal creates a “false contrast between nature and agriculture”. Open Vld seems more inclined to the CD&V proposal, although Deputy Prime Minister Gwendolyn Rutten mainly wants to see concrete measures.
According to Demir, the CD&V proposal places the “wrong emphasis”. “The real problem is that we need to move towards a farmer-centric agricultural model,” she underlines. She emphasizes that the CD&V proposal “pits agriculture and nature against each other”, while much more agricultural land is used as pastures for horses or for residential properties outside the zone. Demir emphasizes that she does want to have the debate, but that it must be conducted in its entirety and on the basis of objective figures.
Open Vld initially advocates concrete measures, but seems to be open to the CD&V proposal. “It is not really logical that the state uses taxpayers’ money to raise prices and speculate on agricultural land,” says Rutten. For her, the government must “send a signal” by restricting this.
For Minister of Agriculture Jo Brouns (CD&V), everything starts with using agricultural land as much as possible for agricultural purposes. According to him, the purchasing policy with Flemish resources artificially increases prices. “It is important that existing agricultural land is protected. There are currently approximately 750,000 hectares of agricultural land in Flanders. But if we look at agricultural use, that is more than 150,00 hectares less,” it said.
ABS and Boerenbond’s response to CD&V’s proposal
Agricultural organizations General Farmers Syndicate (ABS) and Boerenbond supported the CD&V proposal to reserve agricultural land for farmers on Tuesday evening before the start of the consultation with the Flemish government. According to them, if the government competes for that land, the price will increase.
“It would be good if Flanders stopped purchasing or providing subsidies for the purchase of agricultural land,” says Lode Ceyssens, chairman of the Farmers’ Union. According to him, safeguarding agricultural land for farmers would be a “first step”.
According to Ceyssens, farmers in Flanders also have a shortage of land. “An average Flemish agricultural company is 26 to 27 hectares. That is only half as big as in Wallonia,” he said.
Flemish Minister of the Environment Zuhal Demir (N-VA) described the CD&V proposal as “symbolic politics” that pits nature and agriculture against each other. According to Ceyssens, this polarization is mainly due to the fact that purchasing agricultural land in the middle of agricultural areas suddenly creates a nature reserve or forest, which often also has implications for the surrounding agricultural land.
Hendrik Vandamme, chairman of ABS, emphasizes that the price for agricultural land in Flanders is very high compared to Wallonia and surrounding countries. This also stems from the fact that Flanders is bidding on those lands. “That is why agricultural areas must be reserved for agriculture.”
In addition, both organizations hope that the Flemish government will also come up with measures to limit the administrative burden for farmers. Vandamme refers, among other things, to the high fines set out in the manure decree for administrative errors. Ceyssens wants the Flemish government to immediately start working on the emission reduction model for nitrogen.