Farmers and municipalities oppose entry into force of amendments to the Forest Law

The association "Farmers' Saeima" has received 19 letters from local governments, non-governmental organizations and farmers, calling for the postponement of Article 3, Paragraph 2 of the "Forest Law", which stipulates that a forest will be considered an area of 0.5 ha or more, on which a forest stand with an average height of trees of at least five meters has been established. The "Forest Law" will be considered at the meeting of the Saeima Committee on National Economy, Agrarian, Environmental and Regional Policy tomorrow, January 20. We call on the Saeima members and the Ministry of Agriculture to support the position of farmers and local governments on this very important issue.

Juris Lazdins, Chairman of the Association "Farmers' Council": "Statistics from recent years show that the number of hectares used for agricultural production is increasing every year. Almost all agricultural sectors are developing, but especially cattle breeding and sheep farming, which are very well suited for the development and use of new areas. Farmers are investing a lot in the cleanup of overgrown agricultural lands. The policy of the Ministry of Agriculture is also to achieve the involvement of two million hectares of agricultural land in production by 2020, however, the current actions, allowing the facilitated transformation of overgrown agricultural lands into forest lands, indicate the opposite. At the same time, it is a blatant legalization of the laziness of landowners. The Ministry of Agriculture should think about possible support mechanisms for returning this land back to agricultural production. This fact is perfectly understood and understood not only by farmers, but also by municipalities, which care about the employment of residents and the population of the territory, therefore we together call for the postponement of the "The entry into force of Section 3, Paragraph 2 of the Forest Law."

Currently, the "Farmers' Council" has received countless calls full of confusion from members of its own and other organizations, and letters from thirteen municipalities: Madona County municipalities, Cēsis region municipalities Vaive parish administration, Riebiņi district councils, Preili region councils, Aglona region councils, Vārkava district councils, Smiltene region councils, Krustpils region municipalities, Rezekne region municipalities, Balvi district municipalities, Ludza region municipalities, Karsava region councils, Cibla district the city council, the Latgale planning region, farmers of Aloja municipality (with 40 signatures), farmers of Krustpils municipality (with 175 signatures), the Rēzekne municipality business advisory council and associations: "Latvian Sheep Breeders Association" and "Beef Cattle Breeders Associations". The majority of local governments and farmers in their letters call for the entry into force of the norm to be postponed until at least January 1, 2025.

We remind you that farmers have repeatedly appealed to the Ministry of Agriculture to change the norm, but the Ministry of Agriculture has not taken into account the farmers' requests. Also, when developing this legal norm, consultations with farmers' organizations were not held.

At a time when it is clear in the world that there will be a shortage of agricultural land to produce food in the future, this decision is not strategically correct. In Latvia, forest areas reach approximately 58% of the total area. There are countless farmers in Latvia who remove vegetation from the land. This cannot be done in a year, two, or even three years. It is a process that takes years, in which young farmers who want to live and work in the countryside, but the availability of cultivated land is limited, are particularly active.

PRes_Farmers and municipalities oppose entry into force of amendments to the Forest Law