ILVO Beleidsadvies: een actief grond- en pandenbeleid voor grondgebonden landbouw

Land is the heart of this issue. Land remains one of the most essential production factors for agricultural enterprises in Flanders. More important than ownership itself is farmers’ access to land— particularly long-term, secure access. This security is the cornerstone of land-based farming. It underpins income generation, enables greater autonomy, serves as a prerequisite for permits, determines livestock capacity and manure management, and provides the confidence needed to make long-term investments. In short, long-term security of access to land is an absolute prerequisite for building a sustainable future for land-based agriculture in Flanders.

The current situation in Flanders reveals a serious and escalating challenge regarding access to land for professional farmers. While this issue is often framed narrowly as a matter of rising land prices, the problem runs much deeper. The gap between the agricultural economic value of land and its market price has widened significantly — meaning farmers must now pay several times more for land than they can reasonably earn from farming it [1]. Rising prices are merely a symptom of broader underlying dynamics, most of which are unrelated to professional farming. These include permissive land-use policies that allow the conversion of farmland into large private gardens, the repurposing of farmhouses for non-agricultural businesses, the use of agricultural land for keeping hobby animals, and — to a lesser extent — land claims from other policy areas such as infrastructure, water management, and nature conservation. Nearly all of these pressures are backed by financial means that far exceed the earning potential of agriculture. The consequences are grave: in some Flemish municipalities, more than 66% of all farmland is no longer used for agricultural purposes [2].

In addition to local land claims, macroeconomic investment dynamics are also placing increasing pressure on agricultural real estate. Farmland is widely regarded as a safe and stable investment, attracting capital that often prioritizes financial return over long-term land stewardship. While this does not always result in the immediate loss of agricultural use, it frequently leads to short-term lease agreements that offer farmers less security and come at a higher cost. Moreover, agricultural land is subject to speculative interest from non-agricultural actors, while simultaneously being sought after by farmers themselves — often in pursuit of economies of scale or to support
extensification strategies.