The extensive spread of African swine fever (ASF) in Estonia has put both meat producers and processors in a very difficult situation. Kerli Ats, head of the Estonian Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce, explained what is happening in the industry, what kind of support entrepreneurs expect from the state and how the situation is affecting food security.

Over the summer, 55,000 pigs have been culled or are slated for culling, amounting to 20 percent of Estonia's domestic pig population. The virus recently reached a major sow farm.

"This reduces our piglet production by 37 percent. The scenario is very bleak. Entrepreneurs are extremely worried because this doesn't just affect pig farmers — it also impacts the food industry and, with it, other parts of the supply chain," Ats said.

"The dark cloud hasn't gone anywhere. What's happening in the forest today and the current situation mean that our pig farming is sitting on a ticking time bomb," she added.

She expressed hope that pig farming in Estonia is not facing extinction, but stressed that both Estonia and its neighboring countries have been hit hard by the disease. Reducing the wild boar population, Ats said, would help prevent the crisis from escalating.

"Right now, we're in a situation where the root cause is in the forest and the wild boar population is simply too large. This directly affects pig farmers and pork production. We need to act quickly today to manage this crisis and ensure it doesn't escalate beyond what it already is," she said.

She clarified that this does not mean culling all wild boar. "That is definitely not our message, but the fact is that it's very difficult to maintain both a large wild boar population and domestic pig production, which should be reaching our tables."

"Unfortunately, when the wild boar population is low, the background risk of the disease reaching domestic pigs is also low. That needs to be clearly addressed," Ats said.

She pointed to Finland as an example, where domestic pig farming is a clear priority, and as a result, the wild boar population has been kept very low.

It is still unknown how the disease enters farms, but farms have made major investments to meet biosecurity standards, Ats said.

"One root cause is in the forest. That's where it spreads. We've heard that it spreads especially during the season we're in now — people spend a lot of time in the forest, collecting mushrooms and berries, moving around and inevitably they may bring African swine fever into farms," she explained.

She added that the disease is also said to spread via insects and it's simply impossible to create a closed system where no insects enter a farm.

In 2010, there were 1,400 pig farmers in Estonia. With the first outbreak, strict biosecurity requirements led many small farmers to shut down. Since then, larger farms that have been able to invest and comply with biosecurity rules have remained, she said.

"We have large farms, very exemplary farms, with very strict biosecurity requirements," Ats said, noting that because of those rules, she hasn't been inside a pig farm in eight years.

She explained that the virus spreads very quickly, and people carrying it near farms can pass it along.

Entrepreneurs are looking to neighboring countries to move production out of Estonia, which, Ats warned, is not a positive development in terms of national food security.

According to her, the willingness of entrepreneurs to invest in the pig farming sector is very low and exports are also extremely difficult. She stressed that the sector expects strategic leadership from the state, otherwise entrepreneurs will have no interest in investing in pig farming or repopulating their facilities.

As positive measures, Ats highlighted easing restrictions on wild boar hunting, motivating hunters to hunt and compensating farms for the cost of losing animals.

She also noted that only canned meat from healthy wild boar is safe to eat.

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