Since the change of government there are now 2,500 fewer farms in Norway, a decrease of 2.1 percent. Scientists believe unemployment has limited closures.
Under the blue-blue government there are 2563 fewer farms in this country, wrote the newspaper Nationen.
Researcher Ola Flaaten in the Norwegian Institute for bioeconomy says this is a smaller number than expected.
– Based on the policy that has been conducted where a larger extent has stimulated economies, one would have thought that the closure rate would have increased more.
But it is often only by generation shifts that farms are laid down.
Thus, it can take many years before you see the effect of the changes being made, says Flaaten.
Flaaten also highlights unemployment and says that fewer enough choose to lay down because access to alternative work has become tougher.
The past year has seen 3.2 percent fewer farms with dairy cows and 2.1 percent fewer pig farms.
But the number of farms with sheep have increased by 1.5 percent over the past year, as well as farms with calves, with an increase of 3.3 percent.
Agriculture and Food Minister, Jon Georg Dale, is not worried and says it is up to the farmer if they wish to operate.
– Over time, it is important to have sufficient farmers that manage to increase production of food although there are fewer farmers.
As long as one operates the area more effectively then it is manageable, he says.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
