As you sow, you reap.
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– It does not seem as if the government has understood the seriousness of the situation, said the leader of the Norwegian Farmers’ Association, Lars Petter Bartnes, when he on Thursday announced that the farmers broke the agricultural negotiations with the government.
Then it was only two days since the offer came, and a full 11 days until the absolute negotiation deadline.
The distance was too great, he thought. And it was really big.
The farmers asked for 2.1 billion, the state was willing to give 962 million. Then it will not be possible to comply with the Storting’s demand to shift milk and cattle production from barns to loose housing before 2034, the farmers thought. But even more importantly: it contributes to a modest extent to closing the income gap between farmers and other occupational groups. This is also a requirement from the Storting.
So then Bartnes took his Felleskjøpet caps and left.
For Minister of Agriculture Olaug Bollestad and her KrF, it was obviously very unpleasant. The election is only four months away, and the peasants are an important group of voters for the party. The next day she and party leader Kjell Ingolf Ropstad used to declare their love for the farmer in all channels – and emphasize that the money would probably be loose if the farmers had just sat down at the negotiating table.
– We were willing to give significantly more, party leader Ropstad wrote on Facebook on Thursday.
– I was willing to negotiate on noble points, said Minister of Agriculture Bollestad in NRK radio on Friday morning.
How willing they really were, we will never know. The negotiations are irrevocably over. The case is now being sent to the business committee in the Storting. It is not a given that the farmers get better out of it there.
The government’s offer gave agriculture the opportunity for an income growth of 4.5 per cent. It would help close the revenue gap. Not much, admittedly, but it is in line with the guidelines from the Storting. The government parties Høyre, Venstre and KrF will hardly vote against their own offer. And the Progress Party will hardly throw money at the farmers. Thus, the farmers risk that the majority in the Storting decides that the offer will be the final result.
If there is to be any meaning to the bargaining institute, one must respect it. The fact that it sometimes breaks is unavoidable. But one should at least negotiate.
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