Politics, Business | Farmers react: – Too low

On Monday, it became clear that the state is offering the farmers NOK 2.6 billion before negotiations begin.

Although the offer is higher than many expected, it is still far from agriculture’s demand of 3.9 billion.

Among other things, the county leader of the Trøndelag Farmers’ Association, Petter Harald Kimo, reacts to this.

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– Many farmers are having a tough time financially, and this affects their motivation to produce food.

Kimo points out that Trønder’s agriculture as a whole accounted for a value creation of NOK 17.4 billion in 2021.

This makes up almost 10 per cent of the economy in Trøndelag. However, value creation has decreased by 1.5 per cent in 6 years, and the county manager says that they are worried about the economy and especially milk production in the county.

– Farmers’ income still lags behind other groups, and farmers need faith in the future to, among other things, invest in free-ranging barns and good animal welfare measures, and milk production needs to be strengthened

Gjems: – Needs a stronger income boost

Elisabeth Gjems, head of Innlandet Bondelag, reacts to the fact that the state will close a third of the difference in income between farmers and ordinary workers.

The so-called income gap is NOK 136,900, according to the budget committee. The state has proposed to close it with NOK 45,000, while the demand from agriculture was NOK 75,900

– The government has created expectations of a good agricultural settlement, but the state’s ambition for closing the income gap is too low with this offer. We farmers will contribute to increasing self-sufficiency. Norwegian food production is an important part of the country’s total defence, and it obliges all parties. If we are to achieve the goals of increased self-sufficiency, the farmer’s income must increase, says Gjems.

In addition, Gjems points out that the state assumes a lower cost growth than agriculture has calculated in its claim. Thus, the state’s offer appears better than the Farmers’ Association believes there is a basis for.

– Norwegian farmers want and can produce food throughout the country, and this will require a stronger increase in income than what the government is proposing. We have great ambitions on behalf of the farmer, concludes Gjems.

– People quit

Hanne Sofie Juntunen Jenssen, county leader of Nordland Bondelag, also points out that agriculture’s demand for NOK 75,900 to close the income gap is met with an offer from the state of NOK 45,000.

– We farmers all over the country from north to south are ready to contribute to increasing self-sufficiency. Norwegian food production is an absolutely fundamental part of the country’s total defence, and that entails obligations both ways, says Jenssen

– People quit because the financial burden becomes too great to bear, so the income gap must be closed much faster than the offer suggests, she continues.

She also points out that the state’s offer does not meet agriculture’s demands for subsidies for substitutes in the event of illness and childbirth.

– This excludes a large group of food producers from the agricultural welfare schemes.

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