The economic situation for farmers is dire, said Ants Noot, board chair of the Estonian Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce (EPKK).

"Last year left quite a big dent in the sector's results. For the first time, the sector as a whole made a loss of €72 million. Really, for the first time since joining the European Union. This is due to the very bad weather we had last year," Noot explained.

In addition, while food prices have has now fallen, fertilizers, seeds and other input costs have not dropped at the same rate. The current fall in fertilizer prices would not be of help to farmers who had to buy it at higher prices. This means that farmers are forced to sell food cheaply, even though it has been produced at high prices. For this reason, farmers do not like the new obligations now being placed on them as part of the European Union's green turn.

"These measures have become very complex, complicated and costly for businesses. This has led to a reduction in their income," said Noot.

There may also be additional new obligations as a result of Estonia's own climate law.

"The initial proposals that have come to our sector to reduce emissions are not realistic in any way. The issue is a bit more distant, but it still causes anxiety and misunderstanding among operators," said Noot.

Noot added, however, that the Estonian Ministry of Regional and Rural Affairs understands farmers' concerns.

"We have also agreed on actions to deal with this bureaucracy aspect and the administrative burden. We will meet with the authorities multilaterally and try to find solutions to make life a little easier for farmers."

Estonia is also planning to apply for support for farmers from the European Union's agricultural reserve.

"In Europe, there is a crisis reserve or fund whereby member states can apply for one-off support related to any kind of problem. Normally, this is accompanied by the right of the member state to add to the money that comes from the EU," Noot said.

However, the concerns Noot describes are not limited to Estonia alone. In fact, a similar situation exists in a number of EU countries, and these are the reasons why European farmers are taking to the streets, he explained.

"In fact, there is this feeling among farmers that they constantly have more obligations, though the main objective that farmers are working towards is food production. Food production has somehow been very, very much put into the background."

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