In his presentation, Chairman of the Rural Affairs Committee Urmas Kruuse said that Estonia’s agriculture and food production have undergone significant development since joining the European Union, which is evidenced by both the growth of production volumes and the technical capabilities of the sector. “If we compare the beginning of 2000 to the present day, the production of cereals, legumes, and oil crops has increased by 157 percent, and milk production by 54 percent,” Kruuse said, stressing the work done by farmers and breeders.

According to him, today’s discussion has been prompted by the changing international and European Union political environment and the approaching post-2028 financial period. Kruuse pointed out that Estonia’s agricultural subsidies had risen from about 25 percent of the European Union average to over 80 percent. However, the next step in improving competitiveness requires investments. “Statistics demonstrate that Estonian farmers earn less profit from the market than their colleagues elsewhere in Europe, and this does not have to stay that way,” he said.

As an important topic, Kruuse addressed food security and self-sufficiency, which had become particularly prominent in the context of both the COVID crisis and the war in Ukraine. He noted that although Estonia was self-sufficient in several sectors, crises had demonstrated the vulnerability of supply chains and production. “The important thing is not some mysterious self-sufficiency figure but knowing our level of consumption and our actual capacity to produce,” he stressed.

Chairman of the Rural Affairs Committee said that, hopefully, today’s discussion would provide direction for future decisions, but serious debates awaited once the actual funding possibilities of the European Union’s next financial period were known. He stressed that there was consensus in the Rural Affairs Committee that the funds intended for agriculture had to remain within the sector.

According to Kruuse, for a country with a small internal market like Estonia, export orientation and a greater processing of raw materials in cooperation with the food industry are inevitable. He stressed that the future of agriculture depended on the ability to use new tools and directions: “The question is whether we are rich enough to leave even one blade of grass unused, or smart enough to add value to it and to use it to create our wealth.”

At the beginning of his presentation, Head of Agricultural Policy of the Estonian Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce Ants-Hannes Viira stressed that the core of the discussion lay in the choices made: decisions would determine whether the production and food security capacity became stronger or weaker.

Viira’s main message was that Estonia could not fully supply itself with food, and this situation could worsen as Estonia had imported food for years. He pointed out that although competitive sectors (dairy, beef, cereals, and oil crops) in total generated a significant net export, self-sufficiency in several everyday product categories (e.g. meat, eggs, and vegetables) was low and imports, according to his estimates, amounted to ca one billion euros per year. “In other words, we give a total of 500 million euros per year to other countries, to companies abroad, just to have enough food,” he said. According to Viira, the situation does not have to remain this way, as Estonia is in a relatively good position in terms of agricultural land resources, but it uses this potential with too low productivity.

As a solution, Ants-Hannes Viira stressed the role of productivity, the processing industry, and investments: “Our productivity per hectare is low.” He directly linked the poor performance to a gap in capital and investments. He explained that the food industry “doubled the value of agricultural produce”. However, according to his examples, Estonia’s multiplier lagged behind that of many other countries. At the same time, according to his calculations, if we reached, for example, Finnish levels of productivity and value addition, the sector would gain considerable extra sales revenue.

Viira warned that unless policy choices of the following period boosted investments, Estonia would, at best, remain at its current level, while dependence on imports would grow in several sectors.

In terms of funding, Viira directly linked the future of the sector to the decisions on the EU’s following budget period and to the agri-prosperity gap funding, stressing that without this component, support levels would drop dramatically, and it would hit companies’ income and investment capacity hard.

Viira listed several specific investment needs, from animal welfare requirements and building new farms to greenhouse complexes in horticulture, storage and processing, grain processing, biogas and nutrient recycling, and the automation of the processing industry. He concluded his presentation by calling for the income gap funds allocated for agriculture (546 million euros, including co-financing) to be invested in the agricultural and food sector.

At the beginning of his presentation, Member of the Management Board of Sadala Agro Ltd Ahti Kalde said that Estonia’s food security directly depended on the viability of its agriculture and food industry. He noted that agriculture and food industry accounted for about 15 percent of Estonia’s goods exports, but in several categories dependence on imports was high.

Kalde pointed out Estonia’s self-sufficiency gaps: the amount of meat produced is around one third lower than consumption, eggs cover about half of demand, vegetables about a third, and potatoes just over half of the required amount. In this context, he gave the following assessment: “It means that a substantial part of our food supplies comes from other countries’ contributions, from their exports to us, and, in my view, this is not normal.”

Kalde described the reality for enterprises: constant investments and new technologies are inevitable, but requirements are growing faster than enterprises’ capacities. “You could even say that at times you feel you are no longer a food producer but an administrative company, managing various requirements that must be met in order to be able to produce food,” he said. Kalde pointed out that both the international and domestic markets simultaneously expected low prices and high product quality.

In the context of the European Union’s next budget period, Kalde stressed the importance of political decisions, as the EU support under consideration was not automatically allocated to agriculture. He called on legislators for rapid adaptability and linked the funding issue to the national goal of investing in Estonia’s food security.

In conclusion, Kalde said: “If the Riigikogu and the Government view agriculture and food production as a strategic sector in terms of ensuring Estonia’s national security, if the answer is yes, then mere declarations will not suffice; decisions are needed that will enable agricultural sectors to realise their full potential.”

Randel Veerits, Member of the Management Board of Hexest Materials Ltd, introduced himself as a developer of industrial projects. In his presentation, he gave examples including a plywood factory near Jõgeva, the launch of the Paide cheese factory, and an explosives industry project. “So, Estonia, Estonia, Estonia – these have been my last three projects: refining Estonian timber, processing Estonian milk, and today’s defence sector, that is, strengthening our defence capability,” Veerits said.

He stressed that in developing industry, it was reasonable to rely on domestic resources (forests, agriculture, dairy) and to increase value added.

According to Veerits, the common denominator of international projects was the harsh reality of negotiations and the need to mitigate risks through contracts. “That actually means – excuse my choice of words – a struggle from start to finish,” he described cooperation with large producers. He added, that in such projects, a permanent team needed to be built already during the construction of the factory, so that after handover they would be capable of running it independently.

Veerits linked increased productivity to automation and data-driven management: automation creates a constant data repositary and enables process optimisation. “And now, speaking of the fact that automation can add up to 30 percent of efficiency to industry, one can say that if you are also able to integrate AI into the process, you can gain an additional 15 percent of efficiency,” he said.

Veerits aligned defence capability with food security, highlighting the regional impact of industry. “If you have a powerful cannon with explosives, but people have no food, then we will not last long,” said Veerits. He called for speeding up knowledge transfer and pilot projects to enhance cooperation between enterprises and the state.

Lauri Laats from the Estonian Centre Party Group; Maido Ruusmann from the Reform Party Group; Anti Allas from the Social Democratic Party Group; Arvo Aller from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group, and Toomas Uibo from the Eesti 200 Parliamentary Group took the floor during the debate that followed the reports. Jaanus Karilaid took the floor on behalf of Isamaa Parliamentary Group. Peeter Ernits and Anti Poolamets also took the floor.

The sitting ended at 1.28 p.m.

Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)

Photos (Erik Peinar / Chancellery of the Riigikogu)

Video recording will be available on the Riigikogu YouTube channel.

Riigikogu Press Service
Maiki Vaikla
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Link uudisele: The Riigikogu discussed the importance of the role of agriculture and food production in Estonia’s economy and food security

The Estonian and English medium courses of the University regularly provide training to 30–35 students each, and yet the number of graduates is clearly much smaller and no longer covers the need for professionals. He sees one reason in the outdated salary, which is around EUR 1,770 per month according to the Ministry of Education and Research.

The profession is one of the seven regulated by the European Union that require a specific qualification. “It is not one where you can enter the labour market via another profession and still ensure high quality services. This is a unique regulated curriculum that helps to ensure public health in more broad terms,” he said. The parliament and the government hope to analyse the issue together and find solutions.

The President of the Estonian Veterinary Association Valdeko Paavel told the Riigikogu that access to veterinary care both for smaller and bigger animals has not been self-evident for a long time now. He estimates the number of dogs in Estonia to around 235,000 and the number of cats to 300,000; other pets include rabbits, hamsters, ferrets, various reptiles, but also alpacas, llamas, and camels. “Over 50,000 bee colonies need the attention of veterinarians, as do millions of birds, over 240,000 heads of cattle in country farms, and so forth. We are talking about hundreds of thousands or even millions of living beings. Consequently, there is also a big number of animal keepers,” he said.

827 veterinary licences have been issued in Estonia, but nearly 10 percent of the licenced veterinarians do not practice in their field. There is a shortage of 80–100 vets in small animal care and 40–50 vets in agricultural animal care, and the trend of filling the positions tends to be negative as the average age of the vets is rapidly increasing. “Labour market is soon to lose the large graduate groups from the Soviet era, when around 100 students enrolled to the course every year. Today, there is only a quarter of that number in the Estonian medium course.” He added that in 5–10 years, there would be a shortage of 200 vets in Estonia.

The low salary level of the public sector is no competition for the salaries in the private sector, and yet there is a shortage even there. “People with veterinary education are needed today and tomorrow in farms, small animal clinics, state authorities, pharmaceutical industry, but also most definitely in universities, both in the clinical branch as well as in the future of research,” he said.

Paavel noted that Estonian medium veterinary education is a strategic and fundamental issue. “It is high time to increase the number of publicly funded places in veterinary education if we do not want to face a situation where the consequences reach much further than the profession itself, affecting the interests of our environment and society as well as our daily wellbeing, diet, and health,” he said, adding that veterinary education must be well funded and the University must be able to ensure training for the sufficient number of veterinarians.

The Chairman of the Board of the Estonian Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce Ants Noot spoke about the impossibility of producing food and engaging in agriculture without vets. The agricultural land coverage and the number of animals has decreased quite rapidly in Estonia and agricultural businesses have struggled quite a lot from the lack of educated specialists, but also because the economic outlook is not encouraging.

Noot feels that the easiest solution would be to increase state funding, but consideration should also be given to introducing paid education in the Estonian medium. He also stressed the importance of involving agricultural businesses who would be willing to offer further support to graduates. “A couple of simple considerations would be helpful, such as making scholarships tax-free. I am sure that this would make businesses more willing to pay such scholarships,” Noot said, adding that we should also review the system for study allowances and loans, supporting single investments more than has been done so far.

The Rector of the Estonian University of Life Sciences Ülle Jaakma told the Riigikogu that the number of places in veterinary education must definitely increase, even if it happened at the expense of downsizing English medium courses; however, this is not possible without additional financing. “As Ants Noot already said, it is important to find ways for involving private funds to expand the opportunities, such as allowing businesses to cover the expenses of study places,” she proposed.

Jaakma also feels that modernising the clinical basis for veterinary education would help. Developing the experimental farm of clinics is currently up to the University because there is no health insurance system for animals and there are also no instruments to allow applying for support for this. “Consequently, we could maybe consider creating such an instrument, such an option, from the Structural Funds, for example,” she said.

Her third recommendation was to review the system of public study allowances to allow motivated students to focus on their studies. “I think that students in veterinary and agricultural fields are worthy of a specialist scholarship, considering how important these fields are in ensuring national food security,” Jaakma said. “Fourthly, we need to develop a refresher training system to bring back the vets who have at some point left the profession.”

Supporting veterinarian education requires the good will and cooperation of various parties. “From the point of view of the university, the primary condition for change is the implementation of the agreed funding in the coalition agreement and government action plan, which would help to overcome the large shortage that has developed over time; by applying different proposals from then on and combining complementary measures, it would indeed be possible to increase places in veterinarian education. These are not decisions that we can sit on because its takes at least six years for the results to materialise,” she said.

During the debate, Arvo Aller (Estonian Conservative People’s Party), Tiit Maran (Social Democratic Party), Mait Klaassen and Urmas Kruuse (Reform Party), Toomas Uibo (Estonia 200), and Priit Sibul (Isamaa) took the floor on behalf of their political groups.

Photos (author: Erik Peinar / Chancellery of the Riigikogu)

Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)

The video can be viewed later on the Riigikogu YouTube channel.

Riigikogu Press Service
Karin Kangro
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Questions: press@riigikogu.ee

Link uudisele: Riigikogu discussed the future of veterinary medicine in an attempt to overcome the lack of vets

Deputy Chairman of the Rural Affairs Committee Rene Kokk considers it necessary that the Government should give clear guidelines to the Tax and Customs Board and negotiate with financial institutions about extending the payment period of taxes, grant interest relief on tax payments for a certain period and facilitate loan terms. “If the Government decides that currently there is a crisis in the sector, and there clearly is in the agriculture sector, then it is a clear guideline for these agencies and a message to the sector that the state has recognised the nature of the problem,” Kokk said.

It was agreed at the Committee sitting that in order to ensure the sustainability of agriculture, it is necessary to add the state assistance to the aid package provided by the European Union.

Minister of Regional Affairs Madis Kallas and representatives of the Estonian Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce and the Estonian Farmers’ Federation participated in the sitting of the Rural Affairs Committee.

Minister of Regional Affairs Madis Kallas agreed that it was necessary to support the sector and he hopes that explanations about potential measures will come in August.

Riigikogu Press Service
Eleen Lindmaa
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Link uudisele: Riigikogu Rural Affairs Committee supports drought assistance to farmers

Certain provisions of the Fisheries Market Organisation Act are also amended. The need to amend them has emerged from the current experience of implementation of EMFF and this will enable to reduce administrative burden upon implementation of EMFF.

At the same time, the Act is amended by adding provisions that enable, upon grant of state aid to fisheries, de minimis aid to fisheries and other aid to fisheries, to approve conforming applications within the limits of the budget funds earmarked for granting this category of aid in a situation where the amounts applied for in the applications exceed the funds earmarked for that.

94 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of passing the Act.

The Riigikogu passed another Act

The Act on Amendments to the Maritime Safety Act and Amendments to Other Associated Acts (284 SE), initiated by the Government, amends several maritime regulations and brings the Act into conformity with the requirements of European Union legislation and international conventions.

The Act ensures the conformity of the Maritime Safety Act and the Acts relating to it to the European Union and international maritime law. The coherence, understandability and legal clarity of Acts is also ensured. The main impacts arising from the amendments concern the relevant state authorities.

During the debate, Annely Akkermann (Reform Party) took the floor.

91 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of passing the Act.

Four Bills passed the first reading

The Bill on Amendments to the Financial Supervision Authority of Act (380 SE), initiated by the Finance Committee.

The Bill will extend the bases for publishing information relating to state financial supervision and will include in the Financial Supervision Authority Act a legal basis for publishing warning notices. The Bill will enable the Financial Supervision Authority to publish warning notices and to warn the public against activities that are not in conformity with requirements and against relevant suspicions in the field of financial supervision.

The explanatory memorandum notes that the notices will enable to provide the Estonian public early information on risks relating to the financial sector and to inform consumers of grounded threats in the field of financial supervision. Considering the ever-growing financial services market and the entry into market of new kinds of services, there is an ever-growing likelihood that financial services and products are “advertised” to the public the provision or offering of which may require authorisation from the Financial Supervision Authority while the person offering the relevant service or product does not have it. In such cases, it is very important that the Financial Supervision Authority also have the possibility to inform or warn the public of this immediately.

The Bill on Amendments to the Penal Code (348 SE), initiated by the Social Democratic Party Faction and Member of the Riigikogu Raimond Kaljulaid.

The Bill will raise the age-limit for sexual self-determination to 16 years in order to protect minors against abuse. At present, the age limit is 14 years in Estonia, which means that sexual relationships of young people of 14 years of age and over with adults are not in any way regulated by Estonian laws.

The explanatory memorandum notes that, at the same time, the existence of a legal age-limit for starting sexual life or the establishment of such an age-limit by the state does not concern consensual sexual relationships between teenagers but sexual abuse of teenagers by adults.

During the debate, Maria Jufereva-Skuratovski (Centre Party), Riina Sikkut (Social Democratic Party) and Henn Põlluaas (Estonian Conservative People’s Party) took the floor.

The Bill on Amendments to the Rural Development and Agricultural Market Regulation Act and Amendments to Other Associated Acts (309 SE), initiated by the Government. The Bill will impose restrictions to protect agricultural areas with higher than average site class that local authorities will have to take into account when preparing comprehensive and detailed spatial plans in order to ensure the preservation of their soils and the possibility to ensure the supply of the country with food also in a longer-term perspective.

The legal regulation concerning valuable agricultural land will be established in order to achieve legal protection of agricultural land with a high cultivation value and its soils; agricultural use of valuable agricultural land to the largest extent possible and thereby security upon the production of food; a restriction on the building of construction works and afforestation on valuable agricultural land and a restriction on changing the intended purpose and the purpose of use of cadastral units intended to be used as profit-yielding land; a national overview on valuable agricultural areas; and the reflecting of parcels of agricultural land, including parcels of valuable agricultural land, in the register of parcels of agricultural land and on the relevant map.

The explanatory memorandum notes that, through the implementation of the mechanisms to protect valuable agricultural land, in a longer-term perspective, agricultural land use and the sustainability of rural life and through it the security of supply of food is expected to be uniformly ensured on the whole territory of the country.

According to the Bill, local authorities will set the conditions for the protection and use of valuable agricultural land by comprehensive plans. It is not planned to establish measures of state supervision of agricultural use of agricultural land. The great majority of the data on valuable agricultural land has been entered into the register of agricultural support and agricultural parcels (ARIB register) of the Estonian Agricultural Registers and Information Board (ARIB) that covers agricultural areas connected with the single area payment and the area-based supports paid under the Estonian Rural Development Plan 2014–2020. Supervision and control over the implementation of the supports is exercised on the bases of and pursuant to the procedure provided for in Chapter 11 of the European Union Common Agricultural Policy Implementation Act, which as a general rule gives the conviction that valuable agricultural land is in agricultural use.

The Bill on the Prevention of Unfair Trading Practices in the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain (377 SE), initiated by the Government, will provide as unfair trading practices transactions and activities that are connected with payment periods, supplies and conditions governing sales and that are prohibited in relations between buyers and suppliers in the agricultural and food supply chain.

Sixteen unfair trading practices have been listed, nine of which are prohibited in any case and always. For example, the buyer must not unilaterally change the terms of a supply agreement, cancel orders at such short notice that a supplier cannot reasonably be expected to find an alternative means of commercialising or using the products, threaten to carry out acts of commercial retaliation against the supplier, etc.

The remaining seven unfair trading practices are prohibited unless they have been previously agreed in clear and unambiguous terms. For example, where the bearing of the cost of discounts on agricultural and food products has not been agreed in writing in the supply agreement, a request from the buyer that such costs be borne is considered as an unfair trading practice. Such transactions do not give rise to any legal consequences and are void from their inception.

The Competition Authority will exercise supervision over trading practices, and a structural unit with six posts will be established therefor. The Competition Authority will also have to publish a relevant report and, by 15 March every year, submit to the European Commission an overview on the application of the requirements of the Act and on the ensurance of compliance therewith.

Liability will also be provided for for infringement of the prohibition on unfair trading practices. A punishment of up to 300 fine units or detention will be provided for natural persons and a fine of up to 400,000 euro for legal persons.

The aim of the Bill is to protect suppliers of agricultural and food products against unfair trading practices by buyers. The Bill will transpose the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on unfair trading practices in business-to-business relationships in the agricultural and food supply chain.

Ivari Padar (Social Democratic Party) took the floor during the debate.

The Riigikogu did not pass a Resolution

The Draft Resolution of the Riigikogu “Making a Proposal to the Government of the Republic for Compensation of Days of Sick Leave from the First Day of Sick Leave” (346 OE), initiated by the Social Democratic Party Faction.

The draft Resolution made a proposal to the Government to pay to people infected with COVID-19 and their close contacts a sickness benefit of 100 per cent of their previous remuneration from the first day of their sick leave until their capacity for work is restored or until the day of the end of their quarantine. According to the draft Resolution, a one-off benefit in the amount of 500 euro should be paid to people who are not entitled to sickness benefit or whose sickness benefit is less than 500 euro.

Indrek Saar (Social Democratic Party) took the floor during the debate.

The proposal of the Social Affairs Committee as the lead committee was to hold a final vote on the draft Resolution. A majority vote of the members of the Riigikogu was needed for the Resolution to be passed. 31 member of the Riigikogu voted for the adoption of the Resolution and there was one abstention.

Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)

Video recordings of the sittings of the Riigikogu can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/riigikogu.
(Please note that the recording will be uploaded with a delay.)

Riigikogu Press Service
Liisa Johanna Lukk
Phone: +372 631 6456, +372 5331 0789
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Questions: press@riigikogu.ee

Link uudisele: The Riigikogu passed an Act supporting equal treatment of persons engaged in commercial fishing

Link uudisele: Rural Affairs Committee elected Chairman and Deputy Chairman

Act aims to ensure that the basic planning documents prepared concerning the hydrographic network of Estonia (water management plans and land improvement management plans) are prepared concerning the same territories (basins) which would allow a more adequate understanding of them.

The Act provides for the disclosure of these documents as simultaneously as possible which will presumably ensure that the target group and the public understand better the problems raised in the documents and the implementing measures taken to solve them. The Act repeals the provision delegating authority on the basis of which land improvement plans for basins are approved by the Government. In the future the Minister of Agriculture will establish them because they are documents falling within the competence of a specific field.

Link uudisele: Riigikogu approved the Act on Amendments to the Land Improvement Act

Link uudisele: Riigikogu made amendments to Alcohol Act to prohibit alcohol lending