Against the Grauholz A1 extension: court rejects farmers’ complaint

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The Bernese Farmers’ Association criticized the planned expansion of the highway to eight lanes between Bern and Schönbühl because it would take up cultivated land, as shown by the December 15, 2023 ruling of the Federal Administrative Court. 3.27 hectares of crop rotation areas (FFF) would be permanently cultivated and not compensated.

The canton of Bern must guarantee 82,200 hectares of land as FFF. In total, the canton has a reserve of 389 hectares. Accordingly, the project would destroy less than one percent of the canton’s available reserves, the court ruled.

Many members of the Bernese Farmers’ Association have properties that qualify for FFF. If they wanted to carry out a construction project, it would have to be determined whether FFF was required and, if so, whether compensation was possible.

Otherwise, the farmers’ association fears that the construction projects will be at the expense of the FFF reserves. This is only possible if there is sufficient FFF available. The association is therefore interested in compensation from the FFF.

As the court writes in its ruling, it must be taken into account that the farms in the canton own a total of 189,516 hectares of agricultural land. Given this size, there is little risk that the association members will no longer be able to carry out construction projects. The complaint therefore appears to be unfounded.

The Federal Administrative Court thus confirmed the decision of the Federal Ministry of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (Uvek), which rejected an initial objection. The judgment in the second instance can be appealed to the Federal Court within 30 days.

(SDA)

Source:Blick