Estonian farmers pull ahead

TALLINN - Estonian Farmers Confederation deputy president Jaan Sorra says that the technological level of Estonian agriculture is the most developed among new EU member states, and that “we are already past Finland,” reports National Broadcasting. Sorra said in ETV’s morning program on Jan. 14 that around 17,000 people, including workers, are involved in agriculture in Estonia.

“Actually, food is produced for the market by around 2,000 farmers and 200 of them produce around 80 percent of Estonian food. In milk production, 100 bigger milk producers produce 95 percent of all milk,” he said.
Sorra said that the number of farmers is smaller also because a large part of the job is done by technologically advanced machinery: there are farms where milking devices are managed with computers, harvesters and tractors use GPS devices, etc. “I dare say that among new member states, the technological level is the most developed in Estonia. While during the first republic, we said that Estonian agriculture had passed Finland, then, at the technical level we can say the same now,” said Sorra.

The Farmers Confederation has launched a campaign placing stickers on the vehicles of producers of Estonian food, stating “We produce Estonian food” to make people more aware of farmers, since there are already people in Estonian cities who have never seen a real farmer.