Page 17 - Green knowledge 2024

Photo: Oskar Puschmann
Small and scattered fields are going out of use
Thirteen percent of Norway’s agricultural land may be out of production. Mapping analyses
from NIBIO reveal common characteristics among these areas.
Norway has 11 million decares of agricultural land,
covering approximately 3.5 % of the country’s total
land area. This land has been cultivated and can be
used for food and fodder production. However, not
all of it is actively farmed. This is evident from the
fact that area subsidies are only applied for on about
87 % of the total agricultural land.
Area subsidies are granted only for land that is
actively farmed. Therefore, agricultural land outside
the subsidy scheme is described as “agricultural land
that may be out of use.”
An unknown portion of this land is still maintained,
at least to some extent. However, there is no data on
how much is completely abandoned, and there are
significant regional differences. In Troms and Finn-
mark, 38 % of agricultural land is out of use, com-
pared to just 6 % in Rogaland.
Dr Svein Olav Krøgli has conducted mapping analy-
ses to better understand agricultural properties with
land out of use. He examined the number of land
parcels per property, the size of each parcel, and the
distance to the nearest active farm.
“Distance to the nearest active farm is a major factor.
Agricultural properties with a high percentage of
land out of use are usually located much farther from
active farms than those with most of their land in
operation,” Dr Krøgli explains.
The analyses show that properties with small and
scattered fields are more likely to have land out of
use. These fragmented areas are often expensive to
farm and difficult to reintegrate into production due
to the efficiency demands of modern agriculture.
“Our analyses help identify which areas might be
easier to bring back into production and which ones
would be more challenging to reclaim,” Dr Krøgli
concludes.
Purpose: Contact: The government’s focus on increasing self-sufficiency and the need for land for renewable energy
have brought more attention to abandoned agricultural areas. These land analyses contribute to
knowledge-based management.
Research Scientist Svein Olav Krøgli, Division of Survey and Statistics.
Email: svein.olav.krogli@nibio.no | Phone: +47 469 20 837
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