Farmers begin preparing for the new season

Last year brought many challenges to farmers. A new year has begun, but some problems still remain. How are farmers doing now and what are the future forecasts, answer the members of the "Farmers' Parliament" in the regions of Latvia.

Mareks Bērziņš, owner of the “Lojas” farm, from Mazsalaca region: "A real winter is still being observed in Vidzeme. The most important issues for farmers at the moment are amendments to the law "On the privatization of land in rural areas", because the new land acquisition system must be implemented, as well as the removal of vegetation from agricultural lands. Many farmers are currently working on returning land to production, and this means that many new block corrections will be added to Vidzeme. As for land purchases, no transactions have yet taken place under the new procedure. Speaking of grain farming, winter crops are currently overwintering well. The outlook for the pig farming sector is not so positive, because African swine fever is approaching Mazsalaca. Currently "at a dangerous distance" "The first fallen pigs have already been found, so it is important for both small and large farms to follow biosecurity rules."

Arnis Burmistris, owner of the “Vilciņi – 1” farm, from Jelgava region: "I am engaged in crop production and so far the winter crop fields on the Zemgale side look good. What I would recommend grain farmers to do right now is to think about risk sharing and, expecting a good grain price, to fix it right now. At one point, the price for the new crop was around 200 euros per ton, which is very good for this situation. If we talk about current events, the agricultural land market is inactive and land prices are high, which limits the development of companies. The payback period for land must be seriously assessed. Grain farmers continue to prepare for spring and have high hopes for this year's harvest. Farmers should also think about fulfilling the new and already known requirements - greening measures and integrated cultivation."

Artūrs Akmens, owner of the farm "Laši" from Krustpils region: "There is still snow on the Latgale side, so there is hope for a successful wintering of winter crops. Dairy farmers on our side are actively fighting - milk purchase prices are decreasing and everyone is developing their own survival scenario. Farmers on our side are surprised by the new Less Favoured Areas map, in which, measured by average air temperatures, Krustpils and the entire Lithuanian border strip are in the same category as the territory near Riga."

The owner of the farm "Ezergaļi" Dzintars Erdmanis from Kuldīga region: "I am engaged in crop production and I must say that the weather conditions for winter crops on our side are currently good. The biggest problems for farmers are high land prices. Also, many farmers on our side were left behind in the first round of projects announced by the Rural Support Service in the program "Support for Investments in Agricultural Farms". Currently, we really hope that the Ministry of Agriculture will decide on the allocation of additional funds, because a lot of work and financial resources have been invested in the preparation of the projects."

Kaspars Sūniņš, owner of the farm "Celmiņi" from Kandava region: "I am engaged in beef cattle breeding, and the situation in this sector has not changed - the price of weaned calves has been very good since the autumn, but if we talk about the price of meat, then nothing has changed and it is extremely low. On my side, young farmers are actively waiting for support to purchase livestock."

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Press release: PRes_Farmers start preparing for the new season