They used their tractors and got Agriculture Minister Geir Pollestad (Sp) to stand straight in the cold wind. – We are cursed Pollestad. And now it’s actually your own people who are unhappy, said deputy leader Jørund Kvaale Hansen in Agder Bondelag to the minister. On Friday, the government presented a plan for increasing income in agriculture which will ensure that the income gap is closed by 2027. Small and large farmers turned up to express their opinion about the government’s message to the Storting. Photo: Tom Nicolai Kolstad / news Shouting at Pollestad The minister was on his way to the county annual meeting of the Center Party, but he was met by a dozen tractors and several farmers with a message. – We shout a warning. We see this is going the wrong way. We cannot win this fight alone. We need help from you politicians, said Kvaale Hansen. Agder farming associations want the costs they have to farm not to be hidden in the way the minister calculated their income. The Minister of Agriculture, Geir Pollestad (Sp), stood straight in the cold wind in Southern Norway. Photo: Tom Nicolai Kolstad / news Actions cannot be ruled out The Agder farmer’s association was ready to react quickly with action when they saw that the minister was going to visit the region, but they are not alone in reacting. The farmers’ association in Innlandet is the largest county association, and leader Elisabeth Gjems confirms that they have had several meetings. – We are by no means at the point where we are planning tractor demonstrations, but we will consider markings when we know more about the progress in the Storting report, she says. – Is this the beginning of what we see in Europe? – No one here has taken the initiative for demonstrations, but we tell the local teams that those who want to do so, for example by putting up banners, and contacting their local politicians to get the figures in the report changed, she says. Elisabeth Gjems from Rena has sat in meetings with her county team about reactions to the latest government announcement for farmers. Photo: Knut Røsrud / news Norwegian farmers’ and small farmers’ associations are also involved. – We are disappointed with the plan the government has put forward, and we too want to express our opinion, says leader of Norway’s farmers’ and smallholders’ association Thor Jacob Solberg. – How far are you willing to go in the next few days? – We will not arrange a demonstration with tractors and piles of dung in the near future. We cannot rule out that there will be strong reactions to the government’s policy, if they do not give us honest figures and an income in line with others in society, as they have promised, he says. Similarities with Europe European farmers have been demonstrating against climate measures and union agriculture since last autumn. Political journalist in Nationen Tone Magni Finstad Vestheim draws parallels between Norwegian and European farmers: – The protests can come here too. Although Norway is not part of the EU and bound to a common agricultural policy with the EU, Finstad Vestheim said when she visited Nyhetsmorgen on 29 February. The peasant protests in Europe have escalated in recent weeks. – Norwegian farmers are steadily being paid less for the food they produce, at the same time that the climate requirements that farmers must meet are increasing, said Finstad Vestheim on Nyhetsmorgen. Less EU money and reduced exports to China are two of the reasons for the problems in French agriculture. Photo: GEORGES GOBET / Afp
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Angry farmers campaigned – may spread to the whole country – news Sørlandet – Local news, TV and radio
