The war in the Middle East is creating a severe cost crisis for Finnish agriculture, the foundation of national food security. Rising prices of fertilizers and fuel threaten to impose hundreds of millions of euros in additional costs on the sector. The crisis is already hitting crop production in particular. MTK warns of a deepening crisis in primary production and calls on the government to prepare rapid measures to secure cultivation for the coming growing season.

Finnish crop production has entered an exceptionally deep economic crisis. Producer prices for cereals and other field crops have fallen, while production costs, especially fertilizers, energy, machinery, and financing have remained permanently high due to the COVID‑19 pandemic and Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. For many grain farms, last year marked the third consecutive year of losses.

“The situation in the Middle East is aggravating the crisis. Market prices do not currently cover production costs, and farms have virtually no ability to adjust their cost structure in the short term,” says MTK´s President Tero Hemmilä.

The MTK Board, which met on Wednesday, calls on the government to take swift action to safeguard cultivation and yields for the upcoming growing season. With current price ratios, the market alone cannot secure production.

Rapid and Targeted Measures Needed

“The emergency measures introduced in spring 2022 showed that the state has the tools to stabilize the situation quickly. These tools must now be reintroduced, and clearly targeted at supporting crop production,” Hemmilä emphasizes.

MTK demands that the government adopt effective, targeted, and fast‑acting measures to ease the crisis. MTK calls for a €100 million allocation, to be decided at the latest in the upcoming budget framework negotiations, to increase the compensatory allowance, directed primarily to farms engaged in crop production. In addition, the increase in the energy tax refund (costing €45 million) should be reinstated and directed especially toward reducing crop production costs.

MTK stresses that the crisis in crop production is not an isolated problem for individual farms but, if it continues, a national food security risk. Once cultivated land is reduced or production is shut down, it cannot be restored quickly.

“Market disruptions must also be addressed quickly within supply chain contracts. Shortages of eggs and beef show that market mechanisms within the chain are not functioning properly. Therefore, legislative projects aimed at improving market functionality must also be accelerated,” Hemmilä states.

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