Žilvinas Augustinavičius, Chairman of Anykščiai District Farmers' Union:

„Last year was different: more generous with rain, which allowed for a bigger harvest, marked by farmers' unity and mobilisation to be heard – I mean the farmers' bonfire campaign and the tractor march to Vilnius. It is pleasing to see the organisational and negotiating skills of the young colleagues that emerged from this event.

It is not only in our district, but also in Lithuania as a whole, that farmers are mostly withdrawing from the dairy sector. Family farms are increasingly selling off their cows. There are many reasons for this: the highly unstable and unpredictable situation of milk purchase prices, increasing environmental, veterinary and animal welfare requirements, the deteriorating situation on the labour market – it is becoming more and more difficult to find workers to work with farm animals. However, statistics show that the total number of dairy cows in Lithuania is not declining so fast. This can be explained by the expansion of the dairy sector by large companies.

Accordingly, as in all professions, there are crisis moments in farming, when you temporarily lose your love for your job, but after a while the clouds clear and you can resume the work you love.

We have a new Minister of Agriculture, Igna Hofmann, who comes from the farming community. During the 2024 farmers' protest in Vilnius, it was Mr Hofmanas, then Chairman of the Lithuanian Agricultural Council, who was the flag-bearer of the farmers. We hope that the Minister, who has experienced first-hand all the „scourges“ sent by the government to the farmers, will try to correct the old ones and not to send new ones himself…“