Farmers' Assembly on current events in the agricultural sector

On Friday, April 1, the Board of Directors of the association “Farmers' Council” held a meeting. The Board discussed current events in the regions of Latvia, as well as future measures to stabilize the situation in the dairy industry.
It was once again confirmed that very different climatic conditions can exist simultaneously within the borders of Latvia. While sowing has begun in the southern part of Kurzeme and Zemgale, the fields of Latgale and Vidzeme are still covered in snow in places. Unfortunately, there are regions where the frost has not spared the winter crops. Rapeseed has suffered the most on the Jēkabpils side, while cereals, for example wheat, have overwintered relatively successfully.
Aigars Zadiņš, the owner of SIA “Gavsene” from Dundaga, says that the land is dry enough and the sowing of legumes and oats has begun. Winter crops in Kurzeme have wintered well. True, the red deer population is becoming larger, and they continue to feast on winter crops even after the snow melts. The purchase price of milk on the Dundaga side is 21 eurocents per liter of milk, which is maintained thanks to the active work of the Dundaga dairy in the local market.
Pre-sowing fertilization works have begun in Salacgrīva, says Ieva Alpa-Eizenberga, the owner of the “Rūķi” agricultural cooperative. The crops in the coastal region have wintered well, which unfortunately cannot be said about the inland territories, where the crops have suffered much more from the cold, most notably rapeseed. As spring approaches, problems are caused by migratory birds, which damage both grasslands and grain fields. The purchase price of milk in this coastal region varies – from 20 to 16 eurocents per liter of milk.
In the Limbaži region, the situation on the fields is different - in some places the cereals have overwintered poorly, but there are also farms where the winter has passed well, admits Mareks Bērziņš, the owner of the agricultural holding “Lojas”. Unfortunately, a relatively large part of the rapeseed fields have not overwintered successfully. Not only the above-ground part of the plant has not survived the cold, but the seedlings as a whole have been damaged.
In central Vidzeme – Valmiera, spring sowing work is still pending. This week, farmers could start spreading mineral fertilizers. Spring in this region has been long, in some places there is still noticeable snow, explains Juris Cīrulis, owner of the farm “Brieži”. Milk purchase prices in the Valmiera area are in a relatively wide range.
Sowing has already begun in the Bauska district. Here too, large flocks of migratory birds are seriously damaging the fields, says Arnolds Jātnieks, owner of the “Vaidelotes” farm.
Artūrs Akmens, the owner of the Jēkabpils farm "Laši", admits that winter rapeseed on neighboring farms on both sides of the Daugava has not survived the cold and will have to be transplanted.
In Latgale, work is in full swing, says Mārtiņš Trons, owner of SIA “Reits” – the first fertilization has already begun and sowing is approaching. In this area, difficulties also continue for dairy farmers, who are paid a very low price per liter of raw milk – 16-18 eurocents.
At the ZSA Board meeting, based on research conducted by the think tank CERTUS and ZSA, the immediate tasks to be carried out to stabilize the dairy industry were outlined.. ZSA is unequivocally convinced that in the long term it is important to use Latvia's resources – land, grasslands and knowledge, not by reducing milk production in Latvia, but by developing and making it more efficient. The farmers indicated that the biggest tasks to be carried out were strengthening cooperation and knowledge transfer. At the national level, ZSA encourages further investment in supporting milk processing in a way that would ensure the competitiveness of the produced dairy products in international markets.
In turn, to overcome the crisis at the farm level, it is currently important to address issues of stabilizing farm cash flow - harmonizing and extending tax payment schedules, granting direct support, as well as providing additional direct state support at last year's level.