Church-owned farmland
Church institutions still own agricultural land: a historical legacy that was once linked to care and food provision, and today offers renewed opportunities for local agriculture, soil health and biodiversity.
That’s why, together with De Landgenoten and Ecokerk, UCSIA is hosting four networking days for church landowners in June and October, offering guidance on forward-looking management.
For this news update, we spoke to Petra Tas, coordinator at De Landgenoten, and Cléo Rosseneu, staff member at Ecokerk.
Petra Tas
Petra Tas has been the coordinator of De Landgenoten since late 2018; this is a cooperative and foundation that, together with many committed citizens, buys up agricultural land to ensure it is used for organic farming in the long term.
Additionally, De Landgenoten inspires and advises public landowners to use their land for agriculture that delivers social benefits.
Petra previously worked for BioForum, the trade association for the organic farming and food sector, for over 15 years.
For Petra, healthy agriculture starts with healthy soil. She believes, as well, that we shouldn’t view agriculture as a purely economic sector, but as the essential foundation for the health of people, animals and the environment.
Furthermore, the smart management and use of agricultural land offers many opportunities to create social value in terms of the local economy and employment, social cohesion, biodiversity, climate and water.
Cléo Rosseneu
Cleo has been a staff member at Ecokerk, a division of the Justice and Peace Network (NRV), since 2023. The NRV is a network of nine Christian-inspired solidarity organizations that are active within Flemish society.
Through targeted campaigns and practical support, Ecokerk encourages people to keep hope alive and to work together towards a climate-safe, environmentally friendly and socially just future.
Prior to that, Cléo worked for the Professional Association of Care Pastors and taught in primary and home education. She has been actively involved in various food forest projects for almost ten years.
She currently lives with her partner in a wooden cabin situated in a forest in the Kempen region. From this living and working environment, she occasionally leads moments of reflection, inspired by nature and its spiritual dimension.
In your view, what is the significance of public agricultural land in the context of broader societal challenges today?
Petra emphasises that public land can serve as a catalyst for food and the landscape today, precisely because so much is going wrong:
“We are seeing that more and more agricultural land in Flanders is being used for non-agricultural purposes or is being depleted by an extractive form of agriculture, which is often not even intended for the regional market.”
‘This is detrimental to local food production and has a negative impact, the consequences of which we are increasingly observing. Moreover, we know that many farmers depend on secure access to public agricultural land to keep their businesses afloat.’
“Public agricultural land that is deliberately and carefully allocated to sustainable farming, with long-term contracts, can have a significant, positive impact on our food production. Conscious management can bring about a transition in agriculture whilst simultaneously benefiting many citizens through increased biodiversity, local employment, a healthy food supply, reduced pressure on the climate, and so on.”
Cléo also emphasises the potential of the land:
“By retaining ownership and management of agricultural land, opportunities arise for the development of more sustainable agriculture geared towards the local market.”
At the same time, Cléo points out that, in her view, food production is not a particularly attractive prospect these days. “Although our farmers are absolutely essential and are the source of our daily food, they have to work with small profit margins. This encourages them to intensify their operations and invest in scaling up. As a result, our society has forced farmers to adopt an intensive form of agriculture that has a negative impact on our environment and our climate.”
The relevance of church-owned farmland
When asked what specific significance church-owned agricultural land has within this broader context, Cléo clearly outlines what is at stake if church-owned land is lost without a plan:
Land that has been worked for generations — sometimes for centuries — to provide the local market and community with food, disappears in this way into private ownership, with the 'horsification' of agricultural land as a visible consequence.
The horsification of agricultural land is a current trend in Flanders whereby agricultural land is converted into pasture for horses, often for recreational purposes. This phenomenon, along with “gardenification” (agricultural land becoming private gardens), contributes to a decline in the area available for professional food production.
And yet, according to Cléo, there is also room for action, because “possibilities exist to maintain the connection with that agricultural land and — together with the local community — to enjoy it.
As a church council landowner, you can contribute to a good life for the farmers of the future, to the health of our soils and thereby our food and ourselves. You can make room for nature within farming so that local biodiversity contributes to ecological and landscape added value.”
"We want our children and grandchildren to still have the opportunity to practise healthy food production on living soils."
What is De Landgenoten's mission with regard to agricultural land, and how do you see its role in realising that mission?
De Landgenoten starts, according to Petra, from a very concrete mission: “To permanently buy up agricultural land and dedicate it to organic farming. In this way, we wish to contribute to the restoration and protection of healthy, fertile agricultural soils, and to supporting both existing and new organic farmers.”
“Our work is forward-looking: we want our children and grandchildren to still have the opportunity to practise healthy food production on living soils. Moreover, we want to use these lands to contribute to a healthier environment, with more biodiversity, less pressure on the climate, and greater ecological resilience. Finally, we are well aware that a farming business can be a connecting hub within a community. We invite the farmers on our land to fulfil that role as well, according to their own possibilities.”
What is Ecokerk's mission with regard to church-owned agricultural land, and how do you see its role in realising that mission?
Cléo explains that Ecokerk’s primary aim is to connect and support wherever volunteers managing land are looking for direction.
“Ecokerk is a small organisation present in all Dutch-speaking dioceses and vicariates. In our search for what Pope Francis called an ‘integral ecology’ in his encyclical Laudato Si’, we come into contact with local communities and groups, connected to a specific local tradition and to a specific place where people live, work, and celebrate. Connected with those communities, there are church councils across the country where volunteers still take the management of their (agricultural) land to heart. We wish to bring those people into contact with one another, and to guide them towards sustainable and social solutions for the questions they encounter in that work.”
The networking days
The meeting days bring church landowners together around one shared question: how can agricultural land once again carry a future for farmers, soil, and community.
The meet-up day will be held four times at different venues across Flanders. The programme will be the same on each occasion.
The cost is €15 and includes lunch and drinks.