Future of agriculture begins at the negotiating table

The purpose of the Danish parliament’s green tripartite is to formulate together how agriculture can reduce its CO2 emissions, promote green technology and ensure more climate-efficient production. It’s not an easy balance because we all come to the table with our different wishes, assumptions and perceptions as to how such a development can best be achieved.  

But there is one thing – we hope - that the green tripartite can agree on and that is a CO2 tax cannot mean that we remove the climate-efficient farmer’s opportunity to make further investments in green initiatives. We shouldn’t end up by decelerating the green transition at farm level. To do this – or even to halt it – would be to counteract the ambition to secure more jobs and maintain the strong competitiveness of food production - and would contravene basic common sense.

It’s no secret that the concept of a CO2 tax on agriculture has not been welcomed by us. It is, however, the wish of a majority in the Danish Parliament. For this reason, it is even more important that we make our views heard and provide input – our views as professionals and our practical experience – to the policymakers.

In the public debate, agriculture is sometimes reduced to mean just food production. This is, of course, our primary aim, but it also includes the fact that we play a key role in the care of the landscape, nature conservation and CO2-binding practices such as afforestation and green fields. It’s important to remember this when considering what Danish agriculture is all about. Moreover, we support employment in rural areas whenever a farmer calls on the local carpenter, plumber and agriculture adviser and sends products to the dairy.

It’s also worth remembering that the green transition has been underway in agriculture for a long time. It’s not only horse-drawn ploughs that have been modernised, it is also our way of keeping livestock. With feed systems, ventilation and slurry systems, robots and technological aids in general we can both produce more with fewer resources and with a significantly lower carbon footprint than we did before.

In a time of growing awareness of the climate, it is imperative that all sectors step up and make a constructive contribution to the change. The Danish Agriculture & Food Council is, therefore, determined to be an active partner in the green transition and our participation in the government’s green tripartite is a further step in this direction.

We will approach the negotiating table with firm commitment and a desire to work together so that we can shape a world that we can be proud to leave to the coming generations.