🇱🇻 LATVIA
🌧 Heavy rains leave part of Latvia’s harvest rotting in fields
Prolonged summer rains have devastated Latvia’s 2025 harvest, leaving parts of vegetable and grain crops to rot in the fields as harvesting costs exceeded potential returns. Even collected produce often fails to meet food-grade standards due to excess moisture.
In Iecava, farmer Andis Arājs of Jaunstrīķeri reports total losses on potato fields:
“Everything drowned, everything rotted. Some part we harvested, but it doesn’t keep. It’s very hard.”
Up to 1,000 tons of potatoes intended for chip production were lost. Similar conditions are reported by Bračas farm in Sigulda region, where moisture threatens storage quality for cabbage, carrots, and leeks.
Beyond vegetables, Latvia’s main export crops — grain and rapeseed — also suffered.
Farmers and processors report that most of this year’s grain is only suitable for animal feed, as continuous rainfall damaged kernels and triggered sprouting in the fields. Average yields are notably lower than expected, and excessive moisture also reduced the quality of rapeseed.
Producers warn that 2025 could be one of the hardest years in a decade, as rising input costs collide with falling prices and stronger imports from Germany, Poland, and Ukraine.
Latvia’s government has declared an agricultural state of emergency until 4 November 2025, with total losses estimated at over €100 million.
Context:
Latvia’s agri-sector faces a dual hit — weather damage and shrinking competitiveness.
Weak storage and drying infrastructure, coupled with several unprofitable seasons, deepen farmers’ debt burden and increase Latvia’s reliance on imported food and feed grain.
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