Protesting farmers stop traffic on the Via Baltica motorway

A farmer protest has started on the Via Baltica motorway near Kėdainiai. Farmers are rolling along the motorway in convoys of tractors, severely slowing down both trucks and cars, which are struggling to overtake columns of farm machinery lined up in groups of dozens or even more tractors. By severely obstructing and severely slowing down traffic on a busy motorway, farmers are trying to show the government that they are not giving up and will not give up; they are not going to accept the fact that the government is going to increase their taxes by almost 100% and thus condemn a large number of farms to extinction.

This farmers' protest is organised individually by the farmers themselves. It is not organised by the Farmers' Union or any other organisation. It is the final step in their patience, provoked by the government.

Farmers had to resort to this new form of protest after they staged a protest outside the Seimas last week, but it seems to have failed to produce the desired results.

This week the Seimas will debate a tax reform that will tax farmers to such an extent that some of them will have to say goodbye to farming or change the way they operate by converting their farms into limited liability companies (LLCs), which will also be very difficult given the farms' liabilities to banks and EU funds.