Good afternoon, dear Latvian farmers,
Dear ladies and gentlemen,
Congratulations on the job well done! Your achievements are widely appreciated and that is the very reason why we have gathered here today. We are here to celebrate and thank you for your achievements, as well as taking a moment and distancing yourself from everyday hustle to discuss the future of Latvia’s farming and agricultural sector.
I believe it is crucially important to detect the future trends that will affect the Latvian land and people as early as possible.
For instance, global climate change is one of the processes that will have impact on Latvia. Climate change will definitely affect at least our medium-term plans because such change will, of course, have immediate impact on our farming sector.
Another process that will have impact is actually the one that we control. I am talking about whether agricultural products are being grown locally based on organic farming or industrial scale solutions. We must strive to reconcile the economic gains of productivity with our aspirations to remain a green economy in the long run. By green economy I mean greater emphasis on organic farming, not only at an individual but also the industrial level, of course. I think that is our niche and, as far as I understand, our national policies are also geared towards the same goal.
Currently there are a lot of challenges linked to rural parts of our country, the rural development centres and settlements. Many settlements have disappeared from our map in recent decades and it is still not clear whether the overall development of rural regions, with agriculture as the main element that keeps the rural regions together, will allow us to maintain it all. I mean it is part of our culture – the countryside not only feeds us in physical but also mental sense. So, it really does not matter what share of our gross-domestic product is generated by agriculture and farming. It is much more important to preserve this part of our national identity.
Of course, more and more people from other professions have and will continue to choose the countryside as the place where to live and work. However, as I already mentioned, farming is the core of our mentality. It is a millennia-long tradition and our state was created to nurture this part of our identity. Alongside other factors, identity is also playing a more noticeable role in our agricultural policy too. On behalf of the whole Latvian nation, I would, therefore, like to thank all local farmers who are taking care of our land, all those who contribute to our economy and continue to further what we call our Latvian identity.
We have gathered here today to honour those who have won the traditional competition ’Sējējs 2019’ which took place for the 26th time this year. I am grateful to the current Minister for Agriculture and all of his predecessors for this wonderful tradition because our identity represents not only of who we are but also our traditions and history. Competition ‘Sējējs’ became the part of our shared history of restored Republic of Latvia 26 years ago. My warmest congratulations to all winners of this year’s competitions!
