Climate change and two harvests a year can revive family farms.

However, such an abundance of crops is also worrying: we can simply deplete our lands.

“There was no snow or ice, so the groundwater was not recovered, water is missing.” If the heat in the spring comes without rainfall and with the wind and weather lasting for at least a week, a drought will start. Until now, no one can say how the climate will change in the future, “explains Arūnas Svitojus, president of the Chamber of Agriculture, and speculates that we will not grow bananas and avocados anyway.

There will still be frost, snow and we will not change the cardinal crops, but we can extend its season.

“He had to be in France, which, for example, uses special films to protect the corn in early spring, which puts two weeks before planting. Not only the climate is changing, but also the technologies and varieties themselves. Already in Lithuania, some farmers grow two potatoes a year and the first one is harvested in late May or June, ”says A. Svitojus.

It also mentions crops that, in our current circumstances, could already be harvested twice a year. These are potatoes, winter fruits, radishes, various salads. In horticulture two crops are possible, in cereals the land needs more rest. It is good that we have not yet had a tendency to flower too early in the gardens. The rings would have died. This has already happened in Italian peach orchards. They cry that there will be no harvest this year.

In addition, other trends are emerging as the climate changes. Beef farmers, who grazed during the winter of this year, cut the cost by 15 percent. However, not all popular meat horn breeds among us are suitable for this type of storage. Our winters are similar to those in Ireland, but it rains much more in the summer.

When it comes to animal husbandry, we can benefit from climate change: in some places, butchers graze outdoors year-round. We become similar to the Irish, where the grass can be cut not 3 but 4 times a year. Even in Belarus, where new varieties are applied, the grass is cut 4 times. However, these are special grasses that are sown with special seeds and maintained according to the appropriate technology.

“Vegetables do not deplete the soil as much as wheat or other crops. But in any case, we have to return the carbon and nitrogen that the plants take to the soil later. Intensive grain cultivation technologies can be applied in areas of black soil: fertile lands of Ukraine, Kazakhstan. We have yet to find out if it would be worth it, “says A. Svitojus.

However, the SAO President emphasizes that such technologies can be an outlet for relatively small family farms, which will take care of the land they own and will not seek to deplete it, as it is their source of livelihood. However, this also cannot be taken spontaneously.

“The technology must be implemented by medium-sized family farms together with specialized consultants so that the soil is not degraded. Small farms simply will not be able to absorb the technology. This would also solve the problem of rural survival, because smaller farms would not disappear.” , says A. Svitojus and says that it is the technologies that are driving the economy now. If before a person could take care of 15 cows, now in Lithuania this poster has increased to 50, in the EU from 50 to 100 and in the States United at 200.

“In the United States, a farmer serves 200 cows. If there are two people in the family, there are already 400 dairy cows and that is the average farm, “says A. Svitojus and says there is no secret here.

Only technique frees you from manual labor. No more running and watching when you come to collect milk. When milk is taken, the system is automatically washed. No need to scrub barrels with your hands with a sponge. The robot pours the necessary amount of food for the animal, the cows themselves go to the milking parlors and milk them with the robots. The farmer became the operator who runs the farm on a computer.

“The farms there are not intensive, but efficient. For example, they know that the food company will deliver the food to them at the right time and place it exactly where it is needed. You will not have to go and move your hands,” says A. Svitojus about simple business truths that still don’t work for us.

For us, this method will not work because we simply did not create the necessary cooperative system.

According to A. Svitojus, our problem is that farmers are not improving. The state should not support consultants who simply absorb the support, but those who provide real benefits.

“Our problem is that until now we cannot change and jump through ourselves,” admits A. Svitojus.

At the same time, he says, there is nothing to resent for changes in the environment. We can already see at a glance how nature is changing and we need to be trapped. Many basic things, like just collecting and adding and not throwing away the plastic used in production, cost nothing. That’s all you need to put in more of your work.

“We need to think about what to do next, because no one will pay us money for environmental pollution.” Perhaps in the future, farmers who can “lock up” CO2 will receive payments for this. So far, there are no such programs, let’s just talk about the environment. However, adapting to innovations will be a challenge ”, explains A. Svitojus.