About the events
### Honey Festival organised by colleagues from Ogre Technical School in Vecbebri on 3 September
### The European Tree of the Year competition has been extended until 4 September
### LMSP 7th International Conference “Sustainability of Land Use Sectors – Under the Conditions of European Environmental Policy Requirements and Geopolitical Reality” on 3 November at the Faculty of Forest of the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (LLU).
To meet the demand for mineral materials and their mixtures, the “Latvijas valsts meži” (LVM) business unit “LVM Zemes dzīles” is launching an open tender “Preparation works for mineral extraction sites in the Vidzeme, Zemgale and Kurzeme regions”, within the framework of which it is planned to open five new mineral extraction sites and carry out expansion works in one of the deposits. Interested parties are invited to submit their bids in the Electronic Procurement System (EIS) by 11.00 on 19 September 2022.
### https://www.mezsaimnieks.lv/jaunumi/mpks_valde/
The Council of the forest owner cooperative society “Mežsaimnieks” is announcing a call for applications for a board member position in the following areas of responsibility:
Timber trading and logistics;
Planning and organisation of logging works, customer service;
Quality management and certification.
About state matters
The Ministry of Agriculture (ZM) invites Latvian farmers, rural entrepreneurs and foresters to participate in a series of regional conferences on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in Latvia from 2023.
On 30 August 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the Environmental Policy Guidelines for 2021-2027 (VPP) prepared by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development. The VPP is a medium-term policy planning document for the environmental protection sector, which defines the principles on which the development of an appropriate and modern environmental policy in Latvia must be based.
From 1 September, the Latvia University of Agriculture (LLU) continues its operations as the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies. This decision was made by the university's Convention on 18 May this year and was confirmed in the amendments to the university's Constitution at the end of August. The abbreviated name of the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies is LBTU. In the international environment, the university will continue to use the name “Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies”.
About the interesting and significant
In the economy, the first half of the year was still quite strong. Even after the start of the war in Ukraine, followed by a new price hike and the weakening of economic relations with Russia and Belarus, the Latvian economy continued to feel the positive pull from the lifting of pandemic restrictions. This awakened demand for services such as entertainment, leisure, dining out and travel. Household consumption was one of the key drivers of growth, lagging only behind export performance.
However, the 13th Saeima will also go down in history for passing the Local Government Referendum Law, which had failed for several legislative terms. It is expected that the parliament will also vote on the new Local Government Law in September, after which the currently valid law, adopted in the mid-90s, will cease to be in force.
In one of the first reports on the benefits of the municipal reform, Minister A. T. Plešs mentioned that the number of local deputies had decreased significantly (from 1614 to 758), which had allegedly allowed for savings of 10 million euros. This caused a backlash and also doubts about the veracity of the mentioned figure, as in small municipalities, deputies who were not in office received small sums for attending meetings and worked in other main jobs.
The purchasing power of the population is decreasing and economic growth rates are slowing down.
In euro terms, retail turnover in July grew by more than 20% compared to July 2021.
Consumption growth is currently significantly outpacing income growth.
In the use of wood in construction, Latvia is something of an exception, as there are still very few public or even industrial buildings built of wood, while in Europe this natural material is used to build not only multi-storey buildings but also production plants, warehouses and infrastructure facilities.
A new large-scale timber construction building, designed by architect Ingus Bērziņš of SIA REMM and implemented by SIA Castor Construction, has just been opened; it is the finished goods warehouse for the Furniers factory of AS Latvijas Finieris, and is one of the rare large-scale timber construction industrial buildings in Riga.
The first half of 2022 has been successful for “Rīgas Meži” – net turnover reached 10.95 million euros, which is 1.92 million euros or 21% more than in the first half of last year. Almost half, or 49%, of “Rīgas Meži” turnover was made up of roundwood sales – according to the company’s six-month operational financial report.
2021 monitoring data show that there are around 60–70 bears living in Latvia. Over the last three years, there have been signs that bears are also breeding in Latvia. They are mostly found in the border regions of Estonia, Russia and Belarus, so it is recommended to go mushroom and berry picking in pairs in those areas, noted Dr Jānis Ozoliņš, a researcher at the Latvian State Forest Research Institute “Silava”, on the Latvian Radio programme “Kā labāk dzīvot”.
Every year, the State Forest Research Institute “Silava” and the Nature Protection Agency carry out bear monitoring. Its methods include the collection and analysis of genetic material and DNA-containing samples, data from cameras, as well as occasional reports when bears have been filmed by hunters or residents.
Oskars Balodis, Head of the LLKC Crop Production Department: “The quality of winter cereals could have been better this season – farmers admit that for the majority of grains, some quality requirement was not met. The most frequently mentioned indicator is a too low grain volume weight, which means the grains were too small. However, neither crop specialists nor farmers are yet inclined to attribute this fact to the slightly lower use of nitrogen fertiliser this year.”
The Senate of the Republic of Latvia, with its decision of 30 August not to initiate cassation proceedings, has upheld the 2021 decision of the Competition Council (KP), with which the authority fined two land reclamation companies – SIA “Valkas meliorācija” and SIA “Agromeliorators” – for submitting concerted bids in procurements organised by the state-owned SIA “Zemkopības ministrijas nekustamie īpašumi” (ZMNĪ).
...for the deal to go ahead, the permission of the competition regulators of all three Baltic states had to be obtained. Unlike the Latvian and Estonian competition regulators, which permitted such a deal, the Lithuanian Competition Council has just refused to grant the Dobele-based company permission to buy “Baltic Mill”.
The Lithuanian competition regulator concluded that “Dobeles dzirnavnieks” and “Baltic Mill” “are close and significant competitors” in the flour, flour mixture and pasta market, “which is already concentrated”, and therefore “the competition between these companies is significant”.
It was concluded that the merged company would have a large share of the relevant market in Lithuania, but the competitive pressure that benefits consumers would be lost.
This article is a little outside the general context, yet very significant - to what extent and who cares about what. You cannot write everything down in documents...
Residents of the Tīraine village in the Mārupe municipality are raising the alarm, because soon not only the apartment buildings in the Tīraine village, but the entire Tīraine village could be disconnected from the power grid due to infrastructure that belongs to no one. This is not the only village in the municipality where such a situation has arisen.
It is also known that in the Skulte village of the Mārupe municipality, approximately 250 residents have received notices that they will no longer be provided with electricity from July of next year.
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