Farmers' Assembly meets with Minister of Agriculture Jānis Dūklavas

On February 10, a meeting of the council of the association "Farmers' Council" was held, at which the situation in the dairy industry, the promotion of cooperation between agricultural producers, processors and distributors, as well as other issues relevant to the industry, were discussed with the Minister of Agriculture (MA) Jānis Dūklavas.

One of the questions that farmers asked the minister was about possible future support for the dairy industry. J. Dūklavs pointed out that the ministry's opportunities to directly support milk producers are limited. According to the minister, the current difficulties, unfortunately, can no longer be called a crisis, but today's economic situation. However, the minister pledged to seek support opportunities from both the EU Commission and the Latvian government. J. Dūklavs reminded that the difficulties in the dairy industry have been prolonged not only in Latvia, but also in other European Union countries. Therefore, the fight for support is becoming even more difficult for us.

At the meeting, farmers also pointed out that recently, the low interest of retail chains in filling store shelves with dairy products produced in Latvia has been felt again. The ZSA and the minister agreed to create a more active dialogue between the parties involved in the process – producers, processors and traders. J. Dūklavs confirmed the ministry's readiness to organize a platform for negotiations, in which the parties involved could discuss further development of the sector and mutual cooperation. The ZSA pointed out that the current situation is not favorable for either farmers or consumers, because Latvian products are often found on store shelves in relatively small quantities or not at all.

During the meeting, Deputy Director Ģirts Krūmiņš presented the participants with the operational information of the Rural Support Service (RSS). Almost 2,000 project applications were submitted in the project round of the program “Investments in tangible assets”, which ended on February 4. Such a number of applications shows that farmers are increasingly thinking about development, as well as creating long-term farming plans. In agricultural sectors, where cooperation, consolidation of farmers, and work on finding new markets are expressed, farmers are creating more and more high-quality business plans and see the development and growth of farms in the long term.

When asked by the ZSA about the possibility of increasing the funding available in this project round to ensure funding for more submitted projects, the minister responded negatively, indicating that such a decision is not in the hands of the Ministry of Agriculture.

As the issue of reducing GHG emissions becomes increasingly relevant in Europe and the world, which will affect every farmer with new restrictions in the future, the ZSA proposed the creation of a joint working group, which would include representatives of the industry in addition to representatives of the ministry and research institutions.