Examples of conditions that led to the decision include lower temperatures during the growing season combined with night frosts, as well as excessive moisture and hailstorms.

These have caused a significant drop in crop yields and quality, leading to substantial economic losses for agricultural producers.

Minister of Regional Affairs and Agriculture Hendrik Johannes Terras (Eesti 200) said the decision was not made lightly. Terras told ERR that the government's move effectively amounts to an emergency situation. "If we look at the emergency situation in Latvia, what we adopted today essentially means the same thing. This is our equivalent of a state of emergency, which we've defined differently in our legal framework. But in essence, it means the same thing," Terras said at the government's press conference.

"We've all seen what this summer has been like — an unusually cool spring that halted plant development for weeks, followed by relentless rain and hail, which have put our farmers in an extremely difficult position. For many, this is already the third consecutive difficult year. Crops are failing, quality is declining and it's simply impossible to carry out planned work," he noted.

According to Terras, the decision gives farmers a stronger position in negotiations. The decree can serve as a basis for revisiting contractual relationships and obligations. "If a farmer is unable to meet contractual obligations due to bad weather — for example, delivering an agreed quantity of grain — the government's official stance provides them with a strong foundation in negotiations. It sends a clear signal to banks, insurers and trading partners that this is an exceptional situation," said Terras.

He also noted that the decision will reduce bureaucracy and ease farmers' administrative burden. "Thanks to this decision, farmers won't need to separately prove to the Agricultural Registers and Information Board (PRIA) that their specific fields were damaged by bad weather. We are now treating this situation as a general force majeure event," Terras said.

Terras added that the formal recognition of adverse weather conditions provides grounds for approaching the European Commission to request emergency support for Estonian farmers from the European Union's agricultural reserve. "That's the next step, and we are already working on it," he said.

He emphasized that the decree will not place a direct burden on the state budget.

Terras described the situation as a crisis and called on all parts of the supply chain to show understanding and flexibility.

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