– It is our dream that one of the children will take over and start a small-scale operation. There is such good pasture here that it is absolutely perfect for young people to farm if they are only allowed, says Anne Dahlheim. – But that means nothing to the state administrator, the husband, Kåre Eriksen, interjects. The couple lives on Dalheim farm in Storfjord in Troms. The farm has been in the family for three generations, and now the couple want to transfer the small farm to their son, so that the property can continue to be run. But they are not allowed by the state to set aside residential land on the property. The state believes it must be used for agriculture. The dream is for one of the children to take over the family farm Anne Dalheim has lived on all her life. They are not allowed to do that. Photo: Øystein Antonsen / news – Must be restrictive The state administrator in Troms and Finnmark believes that a transfer of the property will exceed the agricultural resources in the municipality. The Government and the Storting have decided that a maximum of 3,000 acres of cultivated land can be built down in this country each year. This is to protect the soil for future food production, and it is all governed by the Land Act. In Troms, only 1.5 percent of the area is arable land. Precisely for this reason, the authorities must be restrictive in approving the subdivision of residential land on agricultural property, according to Director of Justice and Municipalities Per Elvestad at the State Administrator in Troms and Finnmark. – We often receive dispensation applications from the municipalities, where people apply to build on their homestead. We would like to see them build on the home farm so that they can continue to operate, but most of the dispensation applications we receive are very poorly justified in relation to why the soil protection should give way in order to be allowed to build. – Consequences for settlement in the district The mayor of the municipality, Geir Varvik, reacts strongly to the rejection the couple has received from the state administrator. – This rejection is beyond. Like the other municipalities in Nord-Troms, Storfjord is struggling with population decline. Low birth rates and an older population do not bode well for the coming years. According to the mayor, there are also several other young people in the municipality who want to take over small farms after their parents, but the state administrator is putting his foot down. It has consequences, he says. – If you want people to live in District Norway, they must be allowed to settle where they have the opportunity. In this case, it is about taking over a farm in the long term. Therefore, the local politicians in Storfjord will not accept the refusal. – If we want someone to settle here in the municipality, then it is up to us to say yes or no, no one else, he says. – This helps to impoverish the municipalities and prevent settlement, and we need all the settlement we can get in the municipality. So we are not going to accept that rejection. The mayor of Storfjord, Geir Varvik, and the other local politicians in the municipality have granted the family approval and dispensation three times. But with the refusal from the state administrator, they will get nowhere. Photo: Rune Nordgård Andreassen / news – Local democracy will decide Per Elvestad at the State Administrator does not want to comment on the case in question, but says it may be transferred to another State Administrator. – The practice is that we do not process a complaint that we have sent ourselves. Therefore, it goes to another state administrator. Agriculture and Food Minister Sandra Borch comments on the matter as follows: “The government is concerned that the resources on the agricultural property are managed from a long-term perspective, and that the areas are maintained. Provision must be made for a diversity of small, medium and large uses. An important framework for this policy is the legislation, and we therefore believe that it is important to maintain, among other things, the Land Act. The purpose of the Land Act is to ensure that land resources in Norway are used in the most socially beneficial way possible. The Act covers both use and protection, and assumes that management must take place in a long-term and sustainable perspective. The purpose of the sharing provision is to secure and collect the resources as a basis for agricultural operations for current and future owners.” The municipality will still not give up, assures the mayor. – We will pursue this matter as far as possible. We are not going to care what the state administrator or others think about it. We want the local democracy to decide. Not that someone should sit in an office somewhere and say what we should decide in Storfjord municipality.
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Strict land laws prevent settlement in the district, says the mayor – news Troms and Finnmark
