Belgian farmers' organisations take a stand against supermarket chains
Belgian farmers' organisations meet on Friday at the Colruyt Group headquarters to protest against the retail group's way of buying up farmland. The demonstration is part of the International Day of Peasants and Farmers Struggles, a day on which farmers all over the world protest for better access to farmland.
This year the Belgian farmers are targeting the Colruyt Group, a Belgian retail group that is active in Belgium, France and Luxembourg and employs around 33,000 people. Under the flag of Landbouwbrigades (Agricultural brigades) Walloon and Flemish farmers' organisations will march to the headquarters of the retail group in Halle, just outside Brussels.
"We will stop at the Colruyt warehouse, the administrative centre and the Colruyt logistics centre. With this symbolic initiative, we want to draw more attention to the problem of the purchase of agricultural land by supermarket chains," spokesman Wim Moyaert says.
According to the Agricultural brigades, Colruyt buys plenty of agricultural land in Belgium. Like many other large agrobusinesses, the retail group will thus increase its power over the entire food chain.
"Supermarket chains are trying to take control in all segments of production. They determine our price, they determine what is transported and what does not end up on the shelves. If Colruyt decides it no longer sells a certain product, it simply disappears from the assortment."
"Now we are at the point where they are even going to buy up the ground under our feet. We are convinced that in time they will also decide who will work the land, what will be grown and at what price", Moyaert warns. “There is a risk that farmers will lose their independence and decision-making autonomy over the land they farm.”
Price pressure and access to land for farmers are extremely worrying issues, both in the North and in the South. Agribusiness and investors are well aware of the strategic importance of land and are now trying to get their hands on large tracts of agricultural land. The increasing pressure on land prices in Belgium, which are already among the most expensive in Europe, is preventing young farmers from setting up and family farms from disappearing.
"Large agribusinesses and people with money who want to invest in farmland, for example to put horses on it, make it impossible for smaller farmers to operate. Why would you sell a piece of land to a farmer when there are supermarkets or rich people who are willing to pay much more for it," Moyaert concludes.
It's not the first clash between Belgian farmers and powerfull supermarkt chains.
©BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK