Including solar fields
3 reasons for the rising land price
It is clear that the price of land in the Netherlands is rising. An important reason for this is scarcity. More and more land is being withdrawn from the agricultural sector. What causes this scarcity?
Various figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS) support the tight supply, partly due to the extraction of land for non-agricultural purposes. Between 1950 and 2016, more than 550.000 hectares of cultivated land were extracted; on average that is 8.000 hectares per year.
1. More nature
In 2016 became known that money will be made available through the Climate Agreement for additional nature reserves. Within 30 years there should be 100.000 hectares of extra forest in the Netherlands. The cost for this is more than €3 billion. This has the logical consequence that less agricultural land is available.
Last week the province made North Holland known that it is making €500.000 in subsidies available to enable farmers to move out of potential natural areas. The aim is to create 250 hectares of new nature.
This situation does not only occur in the Netherlands. For example, Farmers Weekly wrote that the growth of forestry in the United Kingdom (UK) is causing more and more agricultural land to be sacrificed. The reason is that more money is being made in forestry in the UK. There are farmers who make good use of it and sell their land to use the money for broadening activities. In addition, they use the forest for recreational opportunities.
2. More solar panels
Solar panels also consume a lot of land and that will only increase in the coming years. Like this suggested project developers early April that 10% of the Dutch land is needed for solar fields. This is the only way to achieve the energy targets of 2050. The developers keep the farmers in mind a nice reward and mention amounts of €3.500 to €6.000 per hectare per year.
Especially in the north of the country, where land prices are lower, many plans are being made for large-scale solar parks. Farmers are approached to rent out their land for 15 to 20 years. However, this also means that the farmers cannot simply get rid of the solar panels.
LTO Noord and various political parties oppose the use of agricultural land for solar panels too quickly. Minister Eric Wiebes (Economic Affairs and Climate) recently said in response to parliamentary questions: "Agricultural land is the very last option for the construction of solar parks."
3. More housing
There are more factors that cause scarcity, such as growing housing construction. The improving economy means that 80.000 additional houses will have to be built in the coming years. Although the norm is that this should be done mainly in inner-city areas, estate agents mainly own agricultural land. Nearly 80% of the land is located outside the city.
The agricultural sector is often unable to compete with competitive demand. This is because the market value is much higher at another destination, such as a business park or housing development. Together, these developments play an important role in the fact that the Netherlands highest land price in Europe has.
Anne-Jan Doorn
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