Estonia reports vegetable planting for subsidies — ERR News
In Estonia, some farmers may be sowing fields with vegetables solely to receive state subsidies, without planning to harvest the crop. This is reported by ERR News. According to the outlet, statistics show a sharp increase in the area planted with certain crops, but these products do not actually reach the market.
Sharp increase in declared areas
According to statistical data, the area planted with turnips in the country has increased almost sevenfold over several years, but Estonian-produced turnips do not appear on store shelves. The area for which subsidy applications were submitted for growing pumpkins increased from 50 hectares in 2024 to 224 hectares this year. For red beet, this figure rose from 65 hectares several years ago to nearly 594 hectares.
Raymond Strastin, director general of the Estonian Horticultural Association, said that cheap seeds may be bought for such schemes, sown with grain seeders, with no intention of producing or harvesting a crop. According to him, such fields are not tended during the summer, and in autumn the plants are simply plowed into the soil.
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More inspections
Mart Timmi, a farmer at Jaagomäe farm, said that due to the unchanged total payment fund, the subsidy amount for his farm had decreased from nearly €400 to €160 per hectare. He stressed that support for vegetable growing should compensate the work of producers who supply products to the market.
Estonia's Ministry of Agriculture learned about the manipulations at the end of last year and this year inspected ten times more applicants for vegetable subsidies than before. Katrin Rannik, head of the ministry's agricultural environment department, said that in some cases the declared crop is not found in the field, while in others it is grown without complying with local agricultural standards. According to her, increased inspections may be insufficient, so the authorities are considering other solutions, including the possibility of excluding turnips from the list of crops eligible for subsidies.
