Baltic Farmers' Forum on Environment

Baltic Farmers' Forum on Environment (BFFE) was launched in April 1998 as an initiative from the Nordic Farmers Council (NBC). Presidents of the farmers unions met in Gotland (Sweden) and discussed about the status of the Baltic Sea. The meeting resulted a declaration "Farmers for a Sustainable Future in The Baltic Sea Region".

The status of the Baltic Sea was found to be serious, and it was concluded that all the sectors involved (industry, agriculture, transport, energy production, fishery, tourism, forestry) must take the responsibility to improve the situation of the Baltic Sea. The organizations also urged governments to reserve resources for the adoption of agri-environmental measures. Finally the organizations declared their willingness to invest in the sustainable development of the Baltic Sea. The BFFE network was launched as a part of this process.

The declaration was signed by 12 organizations from 11 countries.

1. Federation of Swedish Farmers (LRF)
2. Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners in Finland (MTK)
3. The Central Union of Swedish-speaking Agricultural Producers in Finland (SLC)
4. Association of Private Family Farmers and Agricultural Cooperatives of Russia (AKKOR)
5. Estonian Farmers Federation (ETKL)
6. Latvian Farmers Federation (LZF)
7. Lithuanian Farmers Union (LUS)
8. National Union of Farmers and Agricultural Clubs and Organisations (KRZKIOR), Poland
9. Bauernverband Schleswig-Holstein (BVSH), Germany
10. Danish Agriculture and Food Council (L&F)
11. The Norwegian Farmers' Union (NFU)
12. Farmers Assosiation of Iceland (Bondi)

Today also Farmers Parliament (ZSA) from Latvia and  the Estonian Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce take part in the cooperation.

NBC (Nordiska Bondeorganisationers Centralråd) manages and monitors the activities of BFFE together with the farmers unions in the area. The chairmanship follows the NBC chairmanship and rotates between Denmark, Finland, and Sweden. Currently L&F holds the coordinating role, and the BFFE secretariat is headed by senior advisor Marie Østergaard (L&F).

The aim of BFFE

The aim of BFFE is to strengthen the agri-environmental work among the farmer organisations. It also represents farmers around the Baltic Sea as an observer in HELCOM.

The vision of BFFE (Stockholm 2012)

Farmers and farmers’ organisations engagements

• Farmers’ organisations take an active part in environmental policy making processes
• Utilise given environmental tools such as free advice and EU agri-environmental support schemes to the greatest possible extent
• Further advocate practices and efforts that farmers make to improve the efficiency of production, which results in higher productivity and less environmental impact

Expectations on governments and administration

• Listen to farmers’ organisations and BFFE and take farmers’ interest in to account in the environmental policy
• Support economic viability and competitiveness of agriculture
• Provide a framework with realistic objectives
• Support agricultural research and advisory services to generate and transfer innovative solutions to farmers

Contact information of partner organizations

  (*) members of secretariat

If you have any comments concerning these BFFE web pages, please contact Airi Kulmala.

Meeting materials

NBC Presidium 16-17.8.2018 Aarhus

• BFFE activities (pdf)
• Nutrient recycling strategy (pdf)
• Review and revise part II of Annex III (pdf)
• Manure Standards Project (pdf)
• Sustainable Development Goals (pdf)
• Review of SDG implementation HLPF 2018 (pdf)

BFFE Conference 25-26.2.2015 Espoo

• Alm: Need to reduce the nutrient load in the Baltic Sea (pdf)
• Herlin: Possibilities to reduce emissions from agriculture (pdf)
• Andersen: Nutrients and eutrophication in the Baltic Sea: past, present and future status.pdf (pdf)
• Hietanen: Natural nitrogen removal in the sea: an ecosystem service maintenance and troubleshooting (pdf)​​​​​​​
• Bonetti: The Nitrates Directive implemtation (pdf)
• McCamphill: The implementation of WFD in the Baltic Sea Region (pdf)
• Ollikainen: Cost-efficient protection of the Baltic Sea (pdf)
• Ødegård: Norwegian farmers view on the implementation of WFD and plans to reduce nutrient leaching (pdf)​​​​​​​
• Runge: Water protection in the rural development programs (pdf)
• Peltonen-Sainio: Land use optimization and sustainable agricultural intensification (pdf)
• Hilse: Resource efficiency: the key for sustainability in agriculture (pdf)
• BFFE Conference 2015 Program (pdf)