Association "Farmers' Council" on agriculture in the third quarter

Although Latvia is a small country, weather conditions vary significantly in different regions of Latvia, and this affects the volume of harvests. In general, the year and harvest in crop production can be assessed as good, but there were individual local regions where drought caused losses, such as in the western part of Zemgale, partly in Kurzeme. Although drought was observed locally in autumn, in general, winter crops have been sown, sprouted and are ready for wintering.

Compared to the last two years, this has been a good year for vegetable growing. This year, Latvia has very good potato and cabbage harvests. The drought observed at the beginning of the summer partially affected the industry in Kurzeme and Zemgale, while in Vidzeme and Latgale it was very minimal. In mid-November, the harvest was harvested and active trading is underway. There has been a minimal drop in vegetable prices, for which, unfortunately, there is no explanation or reason.

This year, fodder was prepared on time, in sufficient quantities and with a reserve. The last two difficult years forced farmers to learn from their mistakes and think about fodder reserves. This year, even at the beginning of September, there were farmers who were making hay from the new grass. The grass harvest this year is much better than last year. The purchase price of milk in Latvia varies – from very mediocre to good.

Currently, Europe is experiencing problems with cattle exports to third countries, resulting in a large number of beef cattle remaining in Europe. This reduces the purchase price of beef cattle. In the beef cattle sector, the price of live cattle has fallen by 10-15% since mid-October. Future forecasts are pessimistic: in the worst case scenario, the price could fall further, while in the best case scenario, the price will remain at the current level.

The Farmers' Council has been actively involved in defending Latvian farmers in Brussels since joining the EU. Our experts both visit the working groups of the European farmers' umbrella organization COPA-COGECA and are very actively involved in the work with the committees of the European Parliament, the European Commission and, at the national level, with Latvia's representatives in the Council of Ministers. It must be said that there is currently a natural stagnation in Brussels. After the European Parliament elections in the spring, summer soon arrived, and with it the summer recess of the European Parliament. The election results marked a rather interesting situation - more than half of the elected members had no previous experience as an MEP. The same situation is also in the European Parliament's Agriculture Committee. Naturally, when work resumed in September, the development of all three regulations related to the Common Agricultural Policy did not proceed as quickly as could have been hoped. First, there was a lot of "babble" about which members of the Agriculture Committee would be rapporteurs for each of the regulations. The Agriculture Committee then decided to take over the package of amendments developed by the previous committee, but expressed its readiness to change individual points if such a desire is expressed by the participating organisations. There is currently a great deal of uncertainty in the European Parliament, for several reasons, including Brexit. There is no clarity about the multiannual budget of the European Union for the next period, and therefore there is no certainty about how much the Common Agricultural Policy will be financed. However, in order to successfully create a future Agricultural Policy, there must be clarity about the budget, because the satisfaction of the ambitions of environmentalists in the new period depends on the amount of financing. Although the European Parliament is putting a lot of pressure on the European Council (the leaders of the member states) regarding the budget, it is unlikely that an agreement will be reached during the Finnish or Croatian presidencies, so the most realistic scenario is the middle of next year. The new Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, was also nominated in the third quarter, but the new European Commission is not expected to be approved until December. We hope that clarity on the budget, the Commission and the new CAP will come as quickly as possible, so that we can continue our work productively for farmers.

Leadership of the Farmers' Assembly