For how much in Lithuania can you buy a farm that can bring in 3,000? per month

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the proportion of imported raw milk in processing has increased from 35 to 40 percent since the beginning of the quarantine. At the same time, the best cows from small and medium-sized Lithuanian farms travel to Poland. Local farmers buy them by the hundreds.

This is what we are talking about in the Delfi 11 program. The Ministry of Agriculture refused to participate in the discussion.

We asked: how to avoid the disappearance of farms and how much does a farm in Lithuania cost that can support a family with dignity.

No longer worth working

Arvydas Šlivinskas, who has been building his farm since 1992. In June 90 cows were sold to buyers in the neighboring country and are said to have tried everything from selling milk in shops to setting up a workshop. He even tried to negotiate with processors to sign a fixed-price contract and that would allow the farms to be modernized.

June 22 the farmer’s end of the five-year period during which he had to maintain production because he received aid from the EU. When he was no longer tied up, he posted an ad on Facebook the next day about pets for sale.

“There were many buyers, but the most specific was the 29-year-old Pole. I still sold the best cows to local farmers. I paid like dairy cows, not butchers. For meat, they offered me 200 euros per cow. Dog food it is more expensive, ”says A. Šlivinskas.

He had placed another ad, offering to give a good cow to a man who would keep it. Promised to equip grass and horn for feeding. The only condition is that the animal cannot be sold. He must be cared for and milked and when his master visits the guests he is fed milk. Nobody wanted to make such a transaction. According to Suvalkis, people even reproached him for “walking around town and offering to settle down.”

“I was a patriot, I tried to keep the Lithuanian cow breeds, I tried not to export calves, but I was forced to sell the whole farm. The latest drop was a drop in prices during the quarantine. Didn’t we eat at that time? Someone is hovering during a plague, ”rages A. Šlivinskas, a practicing vet.

Suwalki says the final decision to pull out was when this spring’s processors lowered the price by 6 carats per liter, and from June they increased by 1 carats. 1 cent per kilogram, if we count all the Lithuanian milk, it is 14 million. by year.

“When the processors announce that they have made tens of millions of euros a year, it frustrates the farmers because it is our expense,” he said.

Vidas Juodsnukis, president of the Lithuanian Family Farmers Union, says cases like A. Šlivinskas’ are common because EU support has been misused. It was not intended for small and medium farms, but for large farms.

The road to corporations

Paulius Astrauskas, a farmer who has been running agricultural companies for several years, says that a setback like A. Šlivinskas’ is logical, because one person calculates that they have reached the point where it is no longer worth working and there is no point in continuing with such activities. Constant losses will lead to bankruptcy.

“There are more and more cases where people who have created farms are leaving. Young farmers could take over these farms, but it must be recognized that, unlike other countries, Lithuania does not have the conditions to receive soft loans to buy and develop the farm. I have no idea how to borrow a million euros to buy a farm like A. Šlivinskas. So far, we are only ruining the farms, ”explains Vytautas Buivydas, president of the Lithuanian Young Farmers Union, and explains why it is easier to sell the business in parts.

V. Juodsnukis predicts that large companies will not survive in the future either, because our farms are separated from processing and are only suppliers of cheap raw materials. This can be modernized and cost as low as you like, but the time will come when you will be forced to work at a loss.

Mr Astraukskas cites another reason for his withdrawal from agriculture: the standard of living has increased several times since the introduction of the euro. At the same time, the purchase price of milk and cereals remained the same or even decreased. People go to the city and work in a paid job that allows them to live with dignity, and they no longer want to dedicate themselves to complex agriculture, whose income does not grow, and it is increasingly difficult to earn a living and it costs a lot to take risks.

We on the road in the United States

“It was similar in the United States 50-60 years ago. Small farmers retired, their land bought by corporations. Farms have disappeared and there are no inhabitants left in large areas”, gives an example P. Astrauskas.

V. Buivydas says that in 10 years. withdrew 50 thousand. farmers. We lose 53 farmers a day, but the amount of arable land has hardly increased. Only a smaller group of people are cultivating the area. The Ministry of Agriculture publishes statistics of that 5 percent. farms take 50 percent. support evil.

“We no longer have towns, but summer villages, where people come only to rest in summer. If that trend continues, we can also destroy the village, ”predicts V. Buivydas in frustration.

V. Juodsnukis says that the village should not become an industrial farm, where only large commercial farms dominate.

Mr. Astrauskas says that we are facing an interesting situation when various industries – machinery, plant protection products – are forcing people who want to stay in the market, buy new technologies, increase areas and volumes, to give up employees.

“However, compared to family farms, large farms are much more fragile and more dependent on natural and economic conditions. For example, in the United States, where land is owned by corporations, it is recognized that this was a error, because it is already clear that the land is being destroyed for profit ”, says the farmer.

V. Juodsnukis says that we buy the most expensive and powerful equipment, which is suitable for the territories of Russia or Ukraine, but it is not profitable for us.

Most farmers will shrink

“According to statistics, 38 per cent. The retirement age of farmers and only 12 per cent. Young farmers. Older people would like to retire, but they have no one to hand over to farms. Children to They often do not want to farm because they have seen parental annoyances. The difficulties are enormous because the farms have been built for life, starting with a few acres. Invested in land, infrastructure. And it is understood that when the obligations with the support expire of the EU and this activity has to be abandoned, and according to today’s purchase prices, it is possible to go bankrupt. Top selling. This is not a fun process. It would be much better if the farm could be sold from generation to generation “, says V Buivydas.

V. Juodsnukis says that people not only like working in the fields, but also the way of life itself. Politicians and farmers themselves have made very little effort so that people do not necessarily dedicate themselves to production, but also want to live there. The infrastructure (schools, kindergartens, jobs) that can support the people in the province no longer even exists.

Profitable farms

Mr. Astrauskas says that all owners are looking for ways to abandon agricultural production with as little loss as possible.

“I saw examples where people created large, profitable farms that they had no one to leave behind. So the only way to sell that farm and live off the accumulated money. These farms are bought by corporations that receive loans. Then this farm is sometimes included in the production infrastructure, sometimes unnecessary assets are sold ”, explains the farmer and says that agriculture must become a tradition. This tradition was interrupted by the Soviet era. In the West, farms have several generations of history, cultivation, and children take over there and want to continue the activities of their grandparents.

However, these items are not typically purchased as a business. Some seize the land, the most attractive property, others the buildings, the third cattle or machinery.

V. Juodsnukis points out that these processes are taking place because, in practice, the restrictions that prohibit the right to own more than 500 hectares do not work.

Astrauskas says that a long-term perspective is important so that young people can see that it is a stable and long-term business.

“If the farm is dedicated to horticulture, 10 to 20 hectares can already generate enough income for the family to survive. If we talk about cereals, it is 100-150 hectares. Such an area can still be supervised by one person. A livestock farm I would already need 50 to 200 cows. A farm like this could cost from 500 thousand euros. The price is formed by calculating the price of the land and additionally the infrastructure and other properties “, calculates P. Astrauskas.

He says there are no “hopeless” sectors in Lithuania where you can’t win. Farmers lack the managerial side to create a sustainable business model and market their products themselves, without passing it on to others, who take most of the profits.

According to P. Astrauskas, 100 thousand hectares of income are needed for the production of crops and for 3,000 euros per month.

“Although 500 thousand. There is a lot of money in Lithuania, but in Western Europe we will not buy any profitable farm for that amount. Judging by this criterion, our property is very cheap so far and that is why investors buy it,” says P. Astrauskas .

V. Buivydas says that for a model like the takeover of existing farms to work, soft loans are needed. Today, it is difficult to obtain credit not only for the purchase of new farms or land, but also for existing funds to obtain working capital. On the other hand, he openly says that most of the farms sold are not innovative, the owners did not modernize them on time, so they are forced to retire. The most modern work profitably.