Estonia's agriculture and food production sectors have been hit by one crisis after another — flooded fields and a devastating African swine fever outbreak. Appearing on ETV's "Esimene stuudio," Maag Food OÜ CEO Silver Kaur said the country's agricultural sector, particularly the pork industry, is in a state of serious crisis.

"We're in a pretty severe crisis. That same Ekseko mega-farm that was hit — there's another farm with the same number of pigs right next to it currently in quarantine. Hopefully, everything goes well and, thanks to our team's exemplary work, we'll manage to contain it and the infection won't spread. But I have to admit, we were sitting on a real powder keg for weeks," Kaur said.

Despite Maag Food's ownership of major brands like Rakvere Meat Processing Plant, Tallegg, Tere and Farmi Dairy, Kaur noted that even a company of their size can take a hard hit — and in this case, size offers no real protection.

"Sure, being big has its advantages. We can afford to hold out longer, absorb more pressure. But today's crisis shows that we actually don't have much time. One crisis has followed another — COVID, the energy crisis, inflation, the war in Ukraine and now African swine fever. Small operations have some advantages, large ones others. A lot of agricultural businesses have been affected by ASF — smaller ones to a lesser extent, bigger ones more severely. We're one of the big ones that got hit hard," he explained.

In response to the outbreak at Ekseko, Maag has begun collective layoffs. Forty-four employees — about a quarter of Maag Agro's pig farming staff — received termination notices. The culling of the animals, combined with the layoffs, has had a significant emotional and operational impact on staff and put the company in a difficult position, Kaur said. Changes lie ahead.

"It's been a real tragedy. These were incredibly tough decisions, but for us, it's about survival. We had to do it. Ekseko, in its current form, is no longer viable. The question now is what our new business model will be — will it be the same or something different? All of this takes time. Under EU regulations, the affected buildings must be disinfected and cleaned, then remain empty for several months. Even if we hypothetically wanted to bring in new animals, that wouldn't happen until next spring," Kaur said.

The infected herd at Ekseko was the breeding stock — producing half of Estonia's piglets. Depending on whether the company decides to restock with fully grown animals or piglets, the earliest possible restart for production would be in about a year.

Kaur also pointed out that there's no longer any viable livestock insurance in Estonia. After the previous crisis, insurers backed out of the market.

"We'd love to insure our animals and birds, including against business risks. But after what happened in 2023, no insurance company in Estonia is willing to cover a single bird or animal. And if someone does offer it, the cost is basically equal to the price of a kilo of meat, which is absurd. It's like saying — if thousands of cars were stolen off the streets every day, would anyone still buy cars if they couldn't be insured? That's where we are now," said Kaur.

He also believes the state should take responsibility for ensuring that businesses can operate in a safe and stable environment — but so far, that hasn't happened.

"The state has clearly failed in controlling African swine fever. And this isn't just a 2025 problem — it's been going on for ten years. It keeps coming back in waves. One of our other farms was hit in 2023 and for two years we've been saying something needs to change. That the wild boar population is too high and that this will eventually lead to a much worse outbreak — and now it has," he said.

"For a decade, we've only dealt with the consequences, not with prevention. That's the core issue."

At Ekseko, major efforts are still being made to prevent further spread.

"Our biosecurity measures are extremely strict. There are clean zones, dirty zones — entire outfits are changed and we have to go through a sauna twice, once when entering and once when leaving. You're not even allowed to bring your phone or house keys inside. I don't think even Estonian hospitals are this strict," said Kaur.

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