RIGA - It could take three to five years for the agricultural sector to recover from this year's bad situation, Maira Dzelzkaleja-Burmistre, deputy chairwoman of the farmers' association Zemnieku Saeima (Farmers' Assembly), told the Delfi news portal program Spried ar Delfi.
She stressed that the sector would definitely not be able to recover by next year and that it would take at least three years to recover after such a year.
Dzelzkaleja-Burmistre stressed that after such a year, the crop rotation and the crop ratio will be disrupted, which will take three to five years to sort out and for the sector to recover financially.
She also mentioned that currently the price of wheat grain is around EUR 200 per ton for food quality, but this year, due to the bad weather, the fields are mainly fodder quality grain, which is 30-40 percent cheaper.
However, Minister of Agriculture Armands Krauze (Greens/Farmers) expressed hope that there would be enough food-quality wheat in Latvia this year, adding that there would certainly be enough fodder this year, but the amount of food-quality wheat could not yet be fully estimated.
He also mentioned that there are farmers who are already threshing food-quality wheat not only in Zemgale but also in Latgale. However, the situation varies considerably from farm to farm.
As reported, at an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday, the government declared a state of emergency in agriculture in the entire territory of Latvia until November 4, 2025 in order to overcome damage done by frosts, rains and floods this year.
The Agriculture Ministry says in its report that by July 10, farmers had informed the Rural Support Service about 51,498 hectares of agricultural areas damaged or not sown as a result of frost and heavy rains, causing an estimated loss of EUR 63.886 million in total.
The ministry emphasizes that, as farmers continue to submit reports to the Rural Support Service, the total area of damaged areas and losses will increase further. The actual extent of the damage could also be much higher, as not all farmers have submitted their reports so far.
The Agriculture Ministry has also submitted to the European Commission its estimates of the impact of the 2025 adverse weather conditions on farmers and has called for a possibility to be found to compensate Latvian farmers from the European Union budget for losses they have suffered as a result of the adverse weather conditions.
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