– We are starting to get a little tired of being de-prioritised against many other things in society, says Christian Skyttermoen (25). He is a part-time goat farmer and leader of the Fåberg farmers’ and small farmers’ association. He took over the farm last year, and is aware that running a farm is less profitable than he had imagined. – I think we should have a bit of effort, he says. Now he expects the politicians to see the value of Norwegian food production, but points out that it must be profitable, so that it becomes attractive for the farmer to produce food. – There is a backlog of around NOK 200,000 per farmer. If we come up with that, we can compare ourselves to a regular wage earner in Norway, says the farmer. The Farmers’ Association and the Small Farmers’ Association have so far not succeeded in agreeing a common demand to the state for this year’s agricultural negotiations. Nor do they sit in conversations with each other anymore. The Farmers’ Association and the Small Farmers’ Association stand far apart in their view of how much money the farmers should demand and how this should be calculated. Forced to choose If they do not agree, the state will be forced to choose which of the two organizations it will negotiate with in this year’s agricultural settlement. This has not happened before. According to what news has learned, the state will probably choose the Norwegian Farmers’ Association as the negotiating partner. – It is completely hopeless. We have two big teams in Norway. It is important that both continue to participate. There are not many farmers left in the country, and we should be able to stand together for a common demand, he says. Christian Skyttermoen (25), is a part-time goat farmer and leader of the Fåberg Farmers’ and Small Farmers Association. Photo: Arne Sørenes / news The farmers’ organizations were scheduled to submit a combined claim to the state on Wednesday this week. The deadline for the agricultural settlement is 16 May. The agricultural settlement Photo: Synnøve Sundby Fallmyr / news The agricultural settlement is the annual negotiation between the state and two professional organizations in agriculture: the Norwegian Farmers’ and Small Farmers’ Association and the Norwegian Farmers’ Association. The negotiations result in the Agricultural Agreement, which determines the financial income opportunities for the farmer in the coming year. This is a central part of the Norwegian tradition of close cooperation between the state and industry, and is one of the main pillars of the Norwegian agricultural model. The Norwegian agricultural model consists of four main pillars: the agricultural agreement, customs protection, market balancing and the agricultural cooperative. The negotiations give Norwegian farmers duties and rights, and lay the foundation for possible income and production. Source: Norwegian Association of Farmers and Smallholders Last year, the state and farmers agreed on a record settlement worth NOK 10.9 billion. Despite this, figures from April show that the income of Norwegian dairy farmers is plummeting. A dairy farm with 33 yearlings is likely to have its income reduced by NOK 75,000 this year. This is shown by recent figures from the Budget Committee for Agriculture (BFJ). If we look at agriculture as a whole, the figures show an average income growth of NOK 12,700 per man-year from 2022 to 2023. In comparison, the agricultural agreement last year added up to an income growth of NOK 28,450 per man-year. The interest rate dispute It is these figures from the budget committee that form the basis for this year’s agricultural negotiations. A central part of the dispute is the desire to use actual interest costs as a numerical basis for the agricultural settlement. Today, the Budget Committee for Agriculture uses real interest to calculate the interest costs for farmers. The real interest rate is the interest rate after tax and minus inflation. When inflation and price growth in Norway are now high, the real interest rate is very low. This leads to the interest costs included in the basic figures for the agricultural settlement being much lower than what farmers actually have to pay in interest costs. According to figures from the Budget Committee, total agricultural debt is over NOK 80 billion, and the interest costs for farmers are well over NOK 4.5 billion in 2023. The real interest costs, on the other hand, are NOK 705 million. This means that there is a difference of NOK 3.8 billion between what the farmers actually pay in tax, and what the figures for the agricultural settlement are based on. The Grytten report, which is the name of the report delivered by the expert committee for income measurement in agriculture, was delivered last year autumn. Here they propose changes to the Total calculation. The committee proposes to calculate the total calculation according to normal accounting principles, i.e. to calculate the depreciation of capital according to historical cost and use nominal interest on debt. The farmers are missing out on a lot of money Former farmer and civil economist Betuel Frøyland believes that there is a lot of money that the farmers are missing out on because of this system. – We are talking about between NOK 5 and 7 billion. Every farmer gets NOK 100,000 too little this year, he says. The farmers will miss out on a lot of money if the interest rate system for farmers is not changed from real interest to nominal interest. Photo: Synnøve Sundby Fallmyr / news He himself stopped with milk in 2018 and with dairy cows in 2020. He has a barn from 1975, and would have had to make major upgrades if he were to continue. Especially with regard to the free-running requirement in 2034. – I have taught and worked in Lyse with investment analyses. When I set up investment analyzes on my own farm, all warning lights flashed red, he says. He believes that being a farmer today can be compared to social dumping and slave labor. – Many farmers in Norway today are in a situation they cannot get out of. They have a lot of debt and make little money. To service the debt, they take out new loans. If you had introduced the lending regulations for farmers, it would have been the hook on the door for many, he says. At the same time, there is an obligation to drive in Norway, he points out. Thus, farmers cannot simply close down farms without anything being done on them.
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Breach before the start of the agricultural settlement – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
