“I do not believe that manufacturers will offer farmers machinery capable of replacing diesel engines in the next ten years. If such equipment becomes available, they will certainly buy it; however, the much bigger problem is not the engines, but the transport usage itself. Specifically, goods are often transported enormous distances back and forth before reaching the user. For example, agricultural machinery is manufactured in Daugavpils, taken to Germany, and subsequently delivered from there to Baltic farmers. This logistical absurdity costs a fair amount of money, yet it happens, and there is no shortage of such examples,” Guntis Vilnītis, Director General of LOSP, reveals to Dienas Bizness.

Speaking about local delivery firms, he mentions a personal example of a single roll of insulating tape being delivered by a Ford Transit van. “I looked to see what else the person was carrying, and there, at the very back of the van, was just another box of insulating tape. Nothing else. Suppliers are skimping on staff wages. Another day, I have other goods delivered to me from the same company, again with a large van, and the scene is the same. These are all exhaust fumes, yet we worry about grain haulers!” G. Vilnītis says.

Asked about the possibility of putting grain on railway platforms within Latvia, he responds with a counter-question: “Why is this not being done today?” Namely, first of all, railway tariffs are not cost-effective. “It is no secret that cement from Brocēni to Liepāja is also transported by heavy lorries. These are very heavy vehicles, and yet it is not profitable to put them on the railway,” says G. Vilnītis, adding that the fault lies not only in the tariffs but also in the access roads to stations, loading facilities, and other details. “We can talk beautifully about the railway as the backbone of transport, but for agricultural products in Latvia, there is currently neither the capacity nor the cost-efficiency to use it,” the LOSP Director General concludes.