(...) ...we also differ among the member states of the European Union. For example, a French farmer differs from a Latvian farmer if only in the fact that they react much more sharply to various new regulations there, and there is a more pronounced culture of picketing and striking to demonstrate their public stance. By contrast, farmers in the Baltic and Nordic countries have a different mentality; we try more to resolve things at the table and probably adapt more quickly to those regulations as well. Consequently, I think many Latvian farmers have implemented various EU requirements even more than some older member states.

(..) Although it is in the basic guidelines of Europe, equality has never existed in agriculture. The Commissioner also sort of apologised to us and pointed out that he understands that we have these lower direct payments and that this is also a historical error, but it cannot be corrected [retroactively]. Although an attempt has been made to improve things slightly over the last two planning periods, there is still a long way to go to reach that equality. And apart from the unequal payments, the historical experience and accumulated capital in the countries also differ significantly. Countries with century-old large farms and infrastructure built over many years are ahead of us, where everything is still taking shape.

(...) ...crises show exactly how dependent we are on various things when developing our agriculture. We are influenced by global processes, and the goal of the Green Deal is precisely to increase that independence, so that in terms of food security, we are independent of Russian resources, of soy from America or Brazil, etc. This affects our viability and also our purchasing power, because if we were self-sufficient in our region and independent of external resources, then global crises would affect us less. Of course, it is not possible to become independent immediately, but perhaps that is the mistake of the last 10 years—that we only became more dependent on certain external resources and are only executors in some areas, and we lack the opportunity to manipulate things to be self-sufficient.

For example, on my farm, I will always be influenceable in some way. But in energy production and seed production, I try to be as independent as possible from external resources; likewise, I do not use mineral fertilisers in organic production. And this is the way global events might not affect me so much, and food should not become more expensive for me.