Speech by Koen Ally - AGRIBEX 2025

Dear Mr. Speaker of the House of Representatives,
Dear Ministers, Representatives, Mayors, Aldermen, EU Politicians, Chairpersons, Members of Fedagrim, Supporters of AGRIBEX,

My name is Koen Ally, a Flemish expat and farmer in the United States, and this is my wife Els.
We come from far away. Literally, that is. From Parmer County, a province with about 4.25 inhabitants per square kilometer. That's not many. To give you an idea, East Flanders has almost 500 inhabitants per square kilometer. Parmer County is located in Texas—you can see it here on the map. But we have also come a long way figuratively. My wife and I started 'farming' on my parents' farm in Deurle, Sint-Martens-Latem. But it turned out that their farm was located in a nature reserve. A decision made in the 1960s that came back to haunt us 40 years later. This had been overlooked and my father had been granted permits at the time, but now, 40 years later, that mistake had to be rectified. It was no better for Els's parents. Their farm was on the left bank and the port was expanding. So they had to leave too. They were expropriated.
That's tough. You want to build something, you see your colleagues making progress. And you – you're standing still. You bottle up your anger, you go knocking on politicians' doors. You're right, but nothing changes. 

That's what my neighbor said to me at one point. Koen, you have to fight for something, not against something. That doesn't get you anywhere. 

And so we did just that. We fought for something, and that's how we ended up in the US. A Dutchman who built dairy farms in the US wanted to make us shareholders in a company with around 2,000 dairy cows. And we agreed. 

Only the grass wasn't so green at that moment. The Dutchman went bankrupt, our money was gone, and we were back to square one. 

But I never forgot what my neighbor said: Koen, you have to fight for something.

That's what we did. We stumbled upon an abandoned dairy farm in northern Texas, in the middle of the desert. No one lived there. Only a few snakes and skunks. And now us. We were allowed to rent the farm and had money for 100 cows, and we lived in a trailer with three children.>
But we were happy. We were able to prove that we could manage a farm. And today, 15 years later, we milk more than 3,100 cows, with a total of 4,800 animals on 850 hectares. The fact is that, despite everything, we have found our share of happiness. We are in good health, the children are growing up peacefully and can look forward to their own future with hope, our four parents are still alive and healthy. And we feel at home across the pond. But at the same time, we are grateful to be here. In Belgium, at AGRIBEX.  

Perhaps a long introduction to get to the heart of my story. America is not necessarily the promised land. It is good for us. But so is Europe. I am not advocating a mass move to the United States. On the contrary, the US needs Europe and vice versa. It is just striking that doing business in Europe—as the Prime Minister also points out—is bound by an enormous number of rules and regulations. With hands and feet. As a result, every initiative by entrepreneurs is nipped in the bud, before you even get started. That is a bad thing. Looking back on my own past, it is extremely demotivating.>
But not everything is rosy here either. Granted, the size of our companies is a multiple of what we see here in Belgium. But size is not everything. Quality is. European companies are strong in that area. The Belgian food industry, with farmers at its core, is hugely important in the United States.

America is also not entirely happy with the trade barriers. They cause tensions. Relations with key trading partners are under pressure. Today it's Europe, tomorrow it's China, then Russia. Agriculture and industry in the United States are looking for stability. Certainty that they will also be able to sell their products on a global market that operates on a level playing field. That is not guaranteed. In fact, the whole world is looking for that stability. But we are not being granted it at the moment, with all the geopolitical tensions that exist.

The National Corn Growers Association has released some disturbing figures. Almost half of American farmers fear that an agricultural crisis is looming. The prices of agricultural machinery, choppers, tractors, combines—and we are here at AGRIBEX, the Mecca of agricultural machinery—have risen under the Trump administration.

You may find it strange, but in the US, only 10% of the active population are self-employed entrepreneurs. However, they do provide work for others. And people who work ensure higher productivity, more income, and a budget in the black. 

So yes, there needs to be calm. Space for the economy to grow in a stable manner on both sides of the Atlantic. And yes, Europe remains important to the US. Europe is an important market and, of course, everything will have to be done within the applicable guidelines on health and sustainability. But here too, I would like to make an appeal to Europe. Don't go overboard. You already excel in the multitude of rules, don't hinder trade with absurd rules and don't hinder farmers from growing and innovating. Not at the expense of society, but for its benefit. That is my message from the United States.