Only farmers who farm adjacent to the land and have a registered farm will have the right of first refusal to purchase the land to be sold.

Businesses, such as farms or other companies, will also be able to buy the farmland for sale in the neighbourhood, provided that their agricultural income represents more than 50% of their total income. 

On Thursday, 73 members of the Seimas voted in favour of the amendments to the Law on the Acquisition of Agricultural Land, with three against and 10 abstentions. 

Kazis Starkevičius, a conservative, said the changes are needed to prevent real estate developers from buying up the land: „They then sublease, speculate on the land to farmers, which is the biggest problem here, and we will at least partly prevent that with this law.

The Seimas did not agree to consider a proposal by Liberal Simon Gentvilas to scrap the current right of first refusal to acquire a plot of arable land for persons adjacent to another such plot.  

S. According to Gentvilas, the amendments are intended to liberalize the sale of plots.

The primary amendments also proposed to give the right of first refusal for the purchase of private farmland to those owners who own plots of land of any purpose adjacent to the land to be sold. However, farmers complained that wind and solar farm developers would acquire plots in the vicinity.