| Seminar on agriculture's role in maintaining rural communities
The Norwegian Agricultural Economics Research Institute (NILF) and The County Governor of Hordaland County hosted a seminar on agriculture's role in maintaining rural communities on the Western coast of Norway in the future November 9th. The NILF presentations were based on contributions made for a Governmental White Paper on agricultural and food policy to be issued early 2011.
In Norway, agricultural employment has declined as a percentage of total employment over the past decade. The same trend is seen within the number of agricultural holdings, and the numbers show the steepest decline in the most peripheral areas. The issue of the seminar was to see to which extent agricultural policy is directed towards - and effective in - creating viable rural communities. NILF researcher Lars Ragnar Solberg presented his findings, showing that agricultural subsidies make up a large part of the regional policy budgets in Norway. Of agricultural budged support, approximately 25 % has a clear rural policy profile. His results have been published in the discussion paper
Tilleggsutredning om landbrukets rolle i lokal og regional utvikling (PDF 336 KB) («Analysis of the role of agriculture in local and regional development», in Norwegian only).
This same trend was seen when the situation in Hordaland County was analysed separately. Kjersti Nordskog presented the main findings from the discussion paper Landbrukets ringvirkninger. Deloppgave 3 i en drøfting av landbruks- og matpolitikkens distriktspolitiske betydning (PDF 1138 KB) («Spill-over effects from agriculture: A discussion of the rural impact of agricultural and food-policy», in Norwegian only) by Karen Refsgaard, John Bryden and Kjersti Nordskog.
This study shows that the profitability within agriculture in the county has declined, if compared to other employment. In addition, peripheral areas have suffered from loss of alternative opportunities for employment. The subsidies seem unable to compensate for the effect of fewer opportunities for off-farm employment. It was found that there is a negative correlation between the increase in total farm subsides and population growth from 2001 to 2009. The study indicates that it is uncertain whether it will be possible to maintain farm household income levels in the peripheral municipalities of Hordaland County by increasing the agricultural subsidies alone. The farm household income is too dependent on off-farm employment. For both farming and non-farming households in these municipalities it is important to increase non-agricultural opportunities.
Director General of NILF, Ivar Pettersen concluded that the studies seem to support the view that agricultural policy should be viewed mainly as an industrial policy, while there is need for general regional policy approaches to ensure viable rural communities.
Approximately 50 representatives from local government, farmer's union, local research institutes and agro corporations were present, and ended the seminar with a debate.
A short article on the seminar was also published by the County Governor of Hordaland (in Norwegian), where also the presentations can be found.
Questions, or requests for further details, can be addressed to Lars Ragnar Solberg or Karen Refsgaard.
Se også oversikt over andre forsidesaker.
Publisert 30.11.2010 | 
