Agriculture, Analytics, Estonia, Labour-market, Markets and Companies
International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics
Thursday, 31.10.2024, 23:55
Foresight Center: Estonian agriculture will need foreign labor also in future
"Agriculture is an important exporting sector for
Estonia, which during the first wave of the virus crisis was hit by a labor
shortage that paralyzed businesses," Uku Varblane, expert at the Foresight
Center, said. He said that due to movement restrictions, foreign labor was
unable to arrive in Estonia and companies found themselves in trouble keeping
their business going. Attempts to ease the labor shortage with the help of
local labor were not successful.
Varblane added that the agricultural sector apparently is
unable to remain internationally competitive without seasonal foreign labor
also in the near future.
"Estonian farmers' competitors in other countries have
been freer in the use of foreign labor," Varblane said, adding that
the sector's companies focusing on supplying foreign markets and the hotels,
restaurants and catering (HoReCa) sector were hit hardest.
"The dairy sector has been affected most, mainly due to
the reduction in exports. Demand on foreign markets has been reduced by the
downturn in tourism. For instance, large amounts of Estonian cheese are sold to
Italy, but it was no longer needed in such amounts due to the shortage of
tourists," he said.
The business of grain producers meanwhile has been little
affected by the crisis, and the grain harvest this year was good. Also
producers of spirits have gained from the crisis due to rocketing demand for
disinfectants.
As a result of the crisis, companies of the sector have
started to think more about the automation of processes and digitalization.
They have also started to offer their products via e-channels.
"The rise of e-commerce may offer new opportunities
specifically to small producers, for whom reaching the end consumer becomes
simpler," Varblane said.
He said that the farm sector will be significantly impacted
by the toughening of environmental requirements in the near term, which will
bring with it the need for companies to make large and sometimes risky
investments.
Business operators say that they also expect greater
cooperation from Estonia with the other Baltic governments to ensure the proper
functioning of the market for agricultural products in our region.
In total 16,900 people, making up 3% of all employees, were
employed in agriculture, forestry and fishery in Estonia last year. The
sector's share of the added value created in the Estonian economy was 2.9%,
equaling 700 mln euros.
In the period from March to October, the monthly revenue of
businesses in plant and animal production was 7.9% higher than a year ago. In
fishery and aquaculture it was higher by 9.4%, whereas in forestry it was
lower by 12.6%.
According to the COVID-19 resilience index calculated by the
Foresight Center, agriculture, fishery and forestry rank fifth for resilience
among the 17 sectors reviewed.
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