Editorial|Editorial
Due to the dry early summer, the harvest outlook is darker than usual. It will probably accelerate the restructuring of agriculture, as this summer’s harvest will be procured at high costs.
Mthe economic plight of agriculture has become a permanent issue, and this summer is not going to bring relief to many farmers.
Especially due to the drought in the early summer, the yields of many production crops threaten to fall well below the average yield level, farmers estimate in a recent survey by the farmers’ interest organization MTK. For example, in spring cereals, the average yield estimate was 64 percent compared to the usual harvest.
The survey focused on farmers in southern and western Finland, whose area has been particularly dry. This month has also rained more than early summer, so the harvest outlook for the whole country is not necessarily as gloomy. Still, it is very possible that crops are becoming unavoidable in many places. Some premises are already preparing for the roof year.
Vfluctuations in crops are typical. They can only be expected when climate change is likely to increase both dry seasons and heavy rains. However, when evaluating this year’s harvests, it is essential that they are achieved with exceptionally expensive production costs, i.e. high-priced fertilizers, increased interest rates and increased energy prices. The farms differ from each other: some are doing just fine, but some have no buffers now.
Agriculture has been going through a major structural change for a long time. According to the statistics of the Finnish Natural Resources Agency there were almost 60,000 agricultural and horticultural companies in 2010, but just under 44,000 last year. In many ways, an understandable change has taken place in political guidance, after all, subsidies play a significant guiding role. Especially when agriculture cannot easily get costs transferred to producer prices due to the strong position of industry and commerce.
The attack on Ukraine launched by Russian leader Vladimir Putin will accelerate the restructuring this year as well.
The editorials are HS’s positions on a current topic. The articles are prepared by HS’s editorial department, and they reflect the journal principle line.
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