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LV Farmers: Harvesting is difficult throughout Latvia
"If last year's summer was relatively unfavorable for agriculture, then this year has surpassed the total of all previous years," the farmers comment briefly and laconically. The management and members of the association "Farmers' Council" in the regions comment on what is currently happening in dairy and meat farming, grain farming, vegetable and berry farms.
Ieva Alpa-Eizenberga, member of the board of the association "Farmers' Council" and owner of the farm "Robežnieki", Salacgrīva county: "We have threshed the grain on our farm, but the winter crop sowing is very sad. Currently, rye and winter rapeseed have been sown, but we are not able to sow winter wheat due to the too wet soil. The situation is the same for the neighbouring farms – most of the grain is threshed with 22% moisture and above, and the Vidzeme farmers have threshed 50% on average." -70% "Regularly - other farmers are also delaying the sowing of winter crops. Farmers will take a risk by sowing winter crops, but there are no options. This year, many farms have poor quality corn - small and poor quality, our farm chose corn with a shorter development stage, so we are lucky again, only there will be problems with harvesting due to rainy weather. In dairy farming, farmers plan to settle the loan payments postponed during the crisis by the end of the year. The purchase price of milk is good - 0.34-0.36 euros/kg."
Edīte Strazdiņa, member of the board of the association “Zemnieku saeima” and chairwoman of the KS “Mūsmāju dārzenie”: August in Kurzeme and Zemgale was dry, and full-fledged plant vegetation lacked moisture. However, right now, when the harvest should be harvested, it is too wet and rainy. The opposite situation is in Latgale and Vidzeme, where it was cool and wet all summer and the situation has not improved at the moment either. Harvesting is difficult – it is impossible to drive tractors into the field, more machinery is broken than harvested crop. If in August we were still hoping for a warm and sunny September, then now all hopes have disappeared. The vegetation of heat-loving plants has stopped, because at night the air temperature drops to +6, +7 degrees. We can no longer hope for a harvest of zucchini and cucumbers. We also need to start harvesting pumpkins, because growth has also stopped and the first frosts may occur at any moment. We should start harvesting potatoes now, but in order to store them in good quality for the winter, there should be no rain for three days before harvesting. Carrots and cabbage can still be in the field, but only if they do not start to deteriorate from moisture. Overall, this year has been harsh and the weather conditions of the last few days show that it is not only against farmers in Latgale and Vidzeme, but also in Kurzeme and Zemgale.”
Jānis Uzulēns, member of the association "Farmers' Council" and owner of the "Jokas" farm, Kuldīga region: "In Kurzeme, there has been more or less rain every day for the last two weeks, last weekend the amount of precipitation was relatively very high. For more than a week, there have been no combines in the fields and any other field work has been hampered. It is impossible to cultivate the soil for sowing winter crops, nor to sow the winter crops themselves. Currently, approximately 40% of cereal fields in Kurzeme have not been harvested, while only 15%-20% of the total area has been sown with winter crops. It is also impossible to prepare a second or third cut for animal feed - the fields are too wet for tractors to drive on them."
Mareks Bērziņš, member of the board of the association “Zemnieku saeima” and owner of the “Lojas” farm, Mazsalaca municipality: "On our side, threshing is going like clockwork. The floods in Latgale and Vidzeme once again confirmed that we do not have sufficient threshing or drying capacity. Despite the weather conditions, farmers are threshing grain, the grain moisture is high, and drying capacity is falling. For those farmers whose share was winter crops, the grain fields have almost been threshed, but in general, the threshing has been from 50-70%. The harvests are good, the quality of the fodder. It is difficult to predict what will happen with the collection of spring and clover seeds, because, for example, late red clover varieties are still blooming."
Agronomist Kristaps Kunrads of SIA “Sutru ogu dārzs”, Līvāni region: "We grow various types of berries on our farm, including blueberries. More than three weeks have passed since the heavy rains that caused flooding in Latgale and part of Vidzeme, but the situation has not improved significantly. For a long time, it was impossible to access ripe blueberries, as a result of which approximately 2 tons of blueberries overripe. If the average market price is 6-7 euros/kg, then we can calculate the losses at 12,000-14,000 euros. Currently, the water level has decreased, but picking berries is still done with long rubber boots and the berries are not ripening as expected, because there is a vital lack of sun and heat. I tried to apply the flooded tunnels and fields for inspection at the Rural Support Service and received an unexpectedly negative response - berries - long-term plantations are not included in the compensation list. When contacting the Ministry of Agriculture, I received a response that the list of crops will not be updated, but I can try to apply the areas for inspection and "I will be able to harvest the harvest from the perennial plantations next season. However, it must be remembered that current expenses have not been canceled - employees have to be paid salaries and the next income will only be next year."