Estonian farmers to get less EU funding in real terms
In Estonia, discussions are ongoing about how much EU funding should be allocated to different sectors in the coming years. Although the talks are still underway, it is already clear that — when adjusted for inflation — farmers will have less EU funding available in the next budget period than they do now.
Active discussions are currently taking place in Estonia on how much funding to allocate to various sectors in the new budget period, which begins in 2028.
Government ministries have already submitted their initial funding requests to the Minister of Finance once. However, since all requests exceeded the available funds by more than double, ministries must now scale back their plans and submit revised proposals to the Ministry of Finance by Friday.
Madis Pärtel, deputy secretary general of the Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture, told ERR that they initially requested €1.2 billion from the overall EU funding pool for farmers. The plan is now to cut that request by €200–400 million. According to Pärtel, this means compromises will have to be made within the sector.
"In terms of the scale of measures, there is certainly room to adjust co-financing rates, since investments are supported with state funds. In food production, it has worked so that part is covered by the state and part by the private sector — it is almost never 100% state-funded. The question is whether the private sector contributes 30%, 40%, or 50% of the total investment. By increasing these percentages, it is possible to achieve some savings," he said.
In fact, farmers can already count on approximately €1.6 billion. This amount was proposed by the European Commission specifically for Estonian farmers, Pärtel added. The remaining question is how much additional funding will be added to that sum.
During the current budget period, farmers had access to €2.3 billion in EU funding. This means that if the government approves the Ministry's reduced request, farmers in the next budget period would receive a total of €2.4–2.6 billion—about 5–10% more than before. However, this comparison is based on figures from roughly seven years ago, when agreements for the current budget period were made.
Ants-Hannes Viira, head of agricultural policy at the Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce, said that before concluding that farmers will receive less funding in real (inflation-adjusted) terms, it would be better to wait for final decisions.
"The reality is that we need to think very carefully about how to use the available future budget funds, and which policy directions to support, so that agriculture becomes stronger in the future rather than weaker," Viira said.
Anti Allas, a Social Democrat and member of the Rural Affairs Committee of the Estonian Parliament, pointed out a concerning trend in how EU funds are distributed in Estonia: compared to other European countries, a much smaller share is directed outside major urban centers.
"Elsewhere in Europe, rural areas receive several times more funding per capita — between two and nine times more. In other countries, the aim is to support more challenging regions, ensuring that more funds go to rural life and smaller towns, rather than increasing already growing inequalities," Allas said.
Arvo Aller, a member of the Rural Affairs Committee from the EKRE party, expressed a more pessimistic outlook for the future of agriculture.
"It seems that everyone has been given the task of cutting spending, regardless of whether and how this is actually feasible," he said.
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Editor: Urmet Kook, Argo Ideon
