The parties agree on measures that provide a total increase in revenue opportunities for 2022 and 2023 of NOK 10.9 billion.
– We are facing a very special and serious spring. We are relieved that we have reached a good agreement in this year’s agricultural settlement, says the Farmers’ Association’s leader and chief negotiator Bjørn Gimming to TV 2.
Minister of Agriculture and Food Sandra Borch says that the agreement that has now been entered into provides assurance that Norwegian farmers will be able to cover the extraordinary cost growth.
– Norwegian farmers will also have significantly increased income opportunities already from the current year. Not least, the agreement provides security for Norwegian food preparedness, says Borch.
She emphasizes that the agreement has been entered into in an extraordinary year for agriculture, with a cost increase that largely challenged production capacity.
Minister of Agriculture: – A very important agricultural agreement
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“At the same time, the war in Ukraine, Europe’s granary, has shown how important it is for all countries to take responsibility for exploiting the potential for food production for their own people,” says Borch.
It also appears that the state offers 40,000 in closing income gaps per man-year. This is 10,000 more than what the state originally offered.
The income gap was one of the main issues during the negotiations.
Historic offer
The state originally offered the farmers NOK 10.15 billion this year, while the farmers demanded NOK 11.6 billion in this year’s settlement. The figures are not directly comparable. The real distance between requirements and offers is close to two billion kroner.
Nevertheless, the state’s offer is the highest in history. The reason is that this year’s offer includes compensation for higher expenses for Fertilizer, electricity, plastic and other input factors over several years, plus a general increase in income beyond the limit elsewhere in society of NOK 30,000 per man-year.
Required general income increase
The farmers’ organizations demanded a general increase in income beyond the limit in the wage settlement of NOK 100,000. And before the negotiations, both the Norwegian Farmers’ Association and the Norwegian Farmers’ and Smallholders’ Association signaled that this point would become a main issue during the negotiations.
At a press conference at 2 pm on Monday, the parties announced the agreement. The Minister of Agriculture Sandra Borch was present, together with the Ministry’s chief negotiator Viil Søyland, the Farmers ‘Association’s leader and chief negotiator Bjørn Gimming and the Small Farmers’ Association’s leader Kjersti Hoff.
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