KORN-KOMPISER: By the end of the decade, 82,500 tonnes of cooking wheat should be in the house, according to Agriculture and Food Minister Geir Pollestad (Sp) (TV) and Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (Sp). Photo: Emilie Holtet / NTB
For the first time in 20 years, Norway will fill emergency stocks with grain. Pandemic, war in Europe and climate change make it necessary, the government believes.
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– The last person to go hungry in war is often the farmer who has the food. Food preparedness is about security for you and me, says Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (Sp).
Together with the newly appointed Minister of Agriculture and Food, Geir Pollestad (Sp), he meets NTB at a farm near Drøbak.
– Next year we will put 15,000 tonnes of grain in storage. Then, until 2028–2029, we will build up a stock year by year so that we have a standby stock of three months’ consumption, says Pollestad.
The aim is to have wheat for three months’ consumption. In the proposal for the state budget for next year, NOK 63 million has been set aside for the emergency stockpile. Towards the end of the decade, 82,500 tonnes of cooking wheat should be in stock.
Agriculture and Food Minister Geir Pollestad (Sp) does not think the Conservative Party will dare to empty the grain stocks if there is a change of government next year. Photo: Emilie Holtet / NTB
Stores all over the country
– The plan is for there to be facilities in several places around the country. There must be private providers responsible for the storage, but it must be state-controlled and a state emergency response, says Pollestad.
– This is a major political victory, he says.
Around the farm at Drøbak, the harvest of this year’s grain is approaching. The drought in early summer has led to rather poor harvests.
– It hurts a farmer’s heart to walk in a barley field when we are talking about wheat, said Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (Sp) (tv) as he trudged out into the field. Photo: Emilie Holtet / NTB
The two ministers eagerly talk about the fulfilled promise from the Hurdal platform, but the backdrop for the emergency storage is not cheerful at all.
– The Conservative and FRP governments believed that no matter what happens in the world, trade will take its course. We believe that no, when we think preparedness, we must think that the unthinkable can happen. We have had both a pandemic, a war in our immediate area and climate change. That makes this the right decision, says Pollestad.
Still dependent on imports
This year’s crops in this country are estimated to be 22 per cent lower than last year, which means that Norway will probably have to import 115,000 tonnes of food wheat, according to Felleskjøpet – i.e. more than what the government wants to have in the grain warehouse.
– We are going to be very dependent on imports anyway?
– Yes, but in a situation with extreme prices on the world market, it will still be possible to buy grain, but then we have done our job and will not be so dependent on the highest bidder at auction. We can help keep prices down, says Pollestad.
The plans must be continued
The ministers refer to the Total Preparedness Commission’s report from February, which recommends setting up a grain warehouse. But in the report, the commission writes that the Directorate of Agriculture initially recommends a grain stock of six months’ consumption.
– Now we are building up for three months. That is a significant volume. Then we will have to make a new assessment when we get to 2028-2029, says Pollestad.
The storage silos will be put out to tender, and the Norwegian Directorate of Agriculture is proposing 25-year contracts with the players. The state will own the grain itself, according to Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (Sp) (tv) and Agriculture and Food Minister Geir Pollestad (Sp). Photo: Emilie Holtet / NTB
However, it is subject to the government’s plans being continued.
– If there is a change of government, and the Conservatives take over power – I know they are against this – then they will actually have to do the job of emptying our emergency stocks, and I don’t think they dare to do that. But I don’t know, says Pollestad.
– The last time I challenged Erna Solberg on this when she was prime minister, she tried to be funny and said that the only thing we will be missing in Norway is candy. But I think the broad strata of Conservative voters agree with us and not with their own leader, interjects the finance minister.
Grain storage on tender
Norway has had grain storage for a long time, but it was phased out in 2003.
– It was after the fall of the wall, and then everything was pleasant, says the finance minister.
– Why doesn’t the state build grain warehouses itself, but put it out to tender?
– Then it will be more decentralized, and then I think it will be cheaper and more efficient, says Vedum.
The state must own the grain itself, and the Directorate of Agriculture proposes 25-year contracts. For example, contracts for the major grain players Felleskjøpet, Fiskå Mølle and Strand Unikorn may be relevant. They already have some storage capacity, but new silos must also be built to accommodate three months’ consumption.
– We are going to take out grain at one end and push it in at the other, so new ones are constantly coming in, says the Minister of Agriculture.
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Published: 25/08/23 at 06:34
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2023-08-25 04:34:59
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