Young farmers protest against new tree planting action
The reason was the new tree planting campaign that is planned for Saturday 11 February. In the Vloethemveld people just don’t want to plant 8 hectares of new trees, so a substantial expansion of the nature reserve. This action is part of the further realization of the Os & Ezel reception gate.
In 2020, the Flemish Land Agency purchased the pieces of land in the Vloethemveld as part of the Moubeek-Vloethemveld land development plan. These grounds will now be used for hiking trails and a new piece of forest. The Agency for Nature and Forests financed the plan and, once it has been set up, will be responsible, together with the municipality of Jabbeke, for the management of the area that will be called ‘Merleytebosch’.
CONCERNED FARMERS
But in recent weeks there has been a lot of opposition from the agricultural sector. They want to stop the expansion of nature and therefore protested in Proven last week. Then about twenty young farmers placed crosses in a field. After all, it is on those fields that there will soon be forest.
And so also in the Vloethemveld, where a similar protest took place on Friday evening. With crosses and slogans, the farmers want to make it clear that they want to be heard. The farmers are therefore not necessarily against the expansion of nature, but above all want legal certainty. The Manure Action Plan and the Nitrogen Agreement, for example, remain complex dossiers to which politicians are unable to find an answer for the time being. Farmers first want to get rid of this permanent uncertainty.