Walloon Farmers Forced to Destroy Crops as Cadmium Crisis Deepens
At least 12 market gardeners in Wallonia, the French-speaking southern region of Belgium, have been forced to destroy their vegetable harvests after tests revealed dangerously high levels of cadmium, a carcinogenic heavy metal. An investigation by Belgian public broadcaster RTBF has uncovered that up to 48,000 hectares of agricultural land — three times the area of Brussels-Capital — may be too contaminated for safe food production, raising urgent questions about food safety, regulatory gaps, and the future of farming in affected areas.
The Scale of the Crisis
In 2025, Belgium’s Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (AFSCA) conducted targeted controls on vegetable samples from areas suspected of industrial contamination. The results were stark: 11 out of 30 samples from Wallonia exceeded legal cadmium limits, compared to just 1 out of 18 in Flanders, according to an AFSCA press release. The worst-affected zones lie along the Sambre and Meuse river valleys, around Liège, and in the Pays de Herve region.
For farmers, the discovery has been devastating. “It’s a catastrophe,” said Frédéric Bronne, an organic market gardener in Olne who was forced to destroy his kale crop in 2021 after it failed cadmium tests. “You question everything. Is what we’re growing still safe? Did we make a mistake?” Adrien Libois, a farmer near Andenne who had to destroy his potatoes and onions, told RTBF: “We’re stunned to learn our plots are polluted without us knowing. We’re not working to poison people — that’s not our goal.”
Two Sources of Contamination
The investigation identifies two primary sources of cadmium pollution in Wallonia. The first is historical: Wallonia was the cradle of continental Europe’s Industrial Revolution, and heavy metallurgical industries in Liège, Charleroi, and Namur deposited decades of cadmium-laden dust across the surrounding landscape. Walloon Environment Minister Yves Coppieters confirmed in a May 19 parliamentary address that “the main historical source of soil contamination by cadmium is the fallout of dust produced by the non-ferrous metals industry.”
The second, and increasingly dominant, source is phosphate fertilizers. Morocco, which holds the world’s largest sedimentary phosphate reserves, is the primary supplier of phosphate fertilizers to Belgium. Sedimentary phosphate rocks naturally contain higher cadmium concentrations than the igneous rocks mined in Russia or South Africa. According to the European Commission, Morocco was Belgium’s top phosphate fertilizer supplier in 2025.
A Regulatory Vacuum
Despite the severity of the crisis, affected farmers have received no financial compensation. “No compensation mechanism is currently planned,” the cabinet of Minister Coppieters stated, citing the “polluter-pays” principle as a recurring legal obstacle. The administration has suggested that affected farmers switch to animal feed production, composting, or biomethanization instead.
Agricultural unions have united in protest. “The authorities must not abandon farmers,” said Bertrand Decock of the Walloon Agriculture Federation (FWA), while Guillaume Van Binst of the Young Farmers Federation (FJA) demanded “technical support and economic coverage in the event of crop declassification.” Anouchka Hoffmann of FUGEA added that it is “unacceptable that farmers only discover non-compliance at the time of delivery, after decades of being allowed to cultivate these lands.”
At the European level, EU Regulation 2019/1009 currently sets a limit of 60 mg of cadmium per kilogram of phosphate fertilizer. France recently adopted a bill aiming to lower this to 40 mg/kg, with a long-term target of 20 mg/kg. Belgium, however, has not conducted a single study on cadmium content in phosphate fertilizers since 2014, and no recent research documents the annual accumulation of cadmium in Walloon soils. The European Commission is due to review cadmium limits by July 16, 2026.
Public Health Concerns
The contamination extends beyond farms. A 2023 study by the Scientific Institute of Public Service (ISSeP) found that 95% of Walloon children tested had detectable cadmium in their urine, with exposure levels three times higher than a national sample from 2011. According to RTBF’s reporting on the study, nine out of ten Walloons overall show detectable cadmium levels, and nearly 5% have excessive concentrations.
Cadmium, classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, accumulates in the body over time, increasing the risk of cancer, kidney damage, osteoporosis, and endocrine disruption. Major contributors to dietary exposure are staple foods such as bread, potatoes, pasta, and pastries — foods consumed daily in relatively small quantities but with cumulative effect.
What Comes Next
With the EU Commission review looming on July 16, 2026, and France moving unilaterally toward stricter limits, Belgium faces mounting pressure to act. Minister Coppieters has written to his federal counterparts urging limits on cadmium-containing fertilizers entering the market. Researchers at ULiège-Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech are studying soil-to-plant cadmium transfer mechanisms, but funding for long-term research remains uncertain.
For farmers like Frédéric Bronne and Adrien Libois, the question is more immediate: can they continue farming on contaminated land without compensation or clear guidance? As Bronne put it: “The farmer is not responsible for past soil pollution.” Without a comprehensive response from authorities — combining compensation, stricter regulations, and renewed research — Wallonia’s agricultural heartland faces an uncertain future.