Public landowners in Belgium, including municipal social aid centres (CPAS), municipalities, regions, and church councils, are increasingly selling their land, according to a study by the Flemish Institute for Agricultural, Fisheries and Food Research (ILVO).
The report, published on Tuesday, highlighted that this land is less frequently used for agriculture, leading to uncertainty for farmers who rely on it. Across Flanders and Brussels, there are around 214,000 hectares of public land. ILVO found that in the past two decades public landowners have rapidly reduced their landholdings, with CPAS dropping by 30% and church councils by 10%.
Researcher Hans Vandermaelen pointed out that public land is often used for nature, housing, or industry – but rarely for agriculture. Approximately 20% of farmers in Flanders and Brussels, amounting to 3,652 farmers, cultivate at least 10% public land. The disappearance of this resource could jeopardise industry sustainability, warns ILVO.
The ILVO study aims primarily to contribute to a debate on the need for agricultural land policy. The Brussels-Capital Region has the greatest proportion of public land at 47.4% (equalling 6,095 hectares), largely explained by the large number of green spaces, such as Bois de la Cambre.
The data shows that the provinces of West Flanders and Flemish Brabant have allocated the largest proportion of public land to agriculture (38% and 36%, respectively). This falls to 28% in East Flanders, 19% in Limburg, 18% in the province of Antwerp, and only 2% in Brussels.
