Home » News » Working life, Agriculture | High prices made the tomato farmer Jon Olav (59) make an unusual decision: – I just had to click

Working life, Agriculture | High prices made the tomato farmer Jon Olav (59) make an unusual decision: – I just had to click

Wednesday wrote Nettavisen Økonomi about the strawberry farmer Geir Joa, which more than doubles the cost of heating due to sky-high gas prices. Unlike farmers who use electricity for heating, he receives no support from the government.

Tomato farmer Jon Olav Runestad (59) is in the same boat as strawberry farmer Joa. For the past 15 years, he has used natural gas for heating in the greenhouses on the island of Fogn in Rogaland. As gas prices rose and rose through the autumn, good advice was expensive for Runestad.

– Everyone talks about electricity prices. Gas prices have gone a little under the radar of people. This despite the fact that the state makes an insane amount of money from it. The bill I received last year was one million kroner higher than in 2020, says Runestad.

The seas: The strawberry king’s expenses increased by 150 percent in one year: – Everything has become more expensive

Took unusual grip

He could not shut down and let down customers who expect tomatoes for the season. Instead, Runestad called the propane suppliers and asked for an offer. Propane occurs in natural gas, but largely follows the oil price – which is also at its highest level in seven years.

Now it is about 40 øre to save on one kilowatt hour of propane compared to the corresponding amount of natural gas.

– I just had to click, and got a fixed price until the summer if I bought a certain quantity. I do this so that it will go in hops, simply. The gas can fluctuate a lot, with the unrest with Ukraine and Putin’s relations with Europe, Runestad says.

On Wednesday, he plants the tomatoes, and Runestad is working hard to get the propane plant up and running. A conversion to propane costs between 300,000 and 400,000 kroner. Going forward, he will mainly use propane, in addition to some natural gas.

If gas prices fall, the tomato farmer has the opportunity to switch back to natural gas eventually.

– It feels a bit like going across the creek for water to choose propane. It is certainly more expensive to produce than gas, but right now it feels safer, says Runestad.

The seas: Got an electricity bill of 217,000 kroner: – Very worried

Towards the government: – Great distance from politicians to ordinary people

– When the government and the state earn so much from selling natural gas, I hope that they can compensate us as well. The state is making a profit regardless of whether they give us a helping hand or not, says Runestad.

He has been a Labor politician and member of the party for 35 years. The tomato farmer believes the government underestimated the importance of the electricity bill for “ordinary people”.

– Ordinary people get a bill of 7,000 kroner. The government has been too late to react, and has not been able to capture this. It is a bit like with the tolls, that there is a great distance from the politicians to ordinary people, says Runestad.

The government and Minister of Agriculture Sandra Borch (Sp) have so far said no to providing compensation to farmers who use natural gas. In addition, the Minister has rejected requests for a temporary exemption from the CO2 tax that was introduced after the New Year.

– The Center Party and Borch have introduced a separate tax from 1 January for the greenhouse industry that uses natural gas. One could hardly have imagined a worse time to introduce such a tax. This weakens the competitiveness of Norwegian players, and gives a big advantage to foreign players, says FRP politician Sivert Bjørnstad.

Also read: Borch: – I am set on extraordinary payments to agriculture in 2022

Double predicament for farmers with gas

Bjørnstad points out that many farmers in the greenhouse industry do not have the opportunity to replace gas with electricity as heating due to a lack of capacity on the grid. The online newspaper has previously mentioned Håvard Skavland, which must be on a waiting list for several years to get more power.

– It is very disappointing that the Minister of Agriculture sticks his head in the sand and pretends that this is not a problem. Either this will lead to dramatically higher prices for Norwegian products or it will greatly affect the profitability of the Norwegian players – in any case it will be serious, says Bjørnstad.

The FRP politician believes that the government must now come up with a package that hits all actors, regardless of the source of heating.

– The differential treatment we are experiencing now is very unfair to many actors, says Bjørnstad.

The online newspaper Økonomi has asked several questions to the Minister of Agriculture Sandra Borch about the case:

– What does the Minister of Agriculture think about the fact that many tomato farmers are now giving up the season due to the high gas prices?

– Many farmers want to become more environmentally friendly by replacing the gas with electricity, but are stopped due to lack of capacity on the electricity grid. Nevertheless, they do not receive any help from the government when gas prices multiply. Is the government considering helping these?

The Ministry of Agriculture writes in an e-mail that it is the Minister of Petroleum and Energy who must answer the questions concerning gas prices and capacity of the electricity grid. Regarding Bjørnstad’s statements, Minister of Agriculture Borch says:

– The package the government has now worked to compensate for increased electricity prices, both for the greenhouse industry and agriculture in general, is anything but sticking your head in the sand!

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.