Agriculture, Estonia, Legislation, Markets and Companies, Strike

The organisers stressed that this is not a protest action and rather they wanted people to value local milk production more.

Around 1,000 litres of free milk was distributed at the event that drew several thousand people queuing, so the free milk ended in 15-20 minutes.

Saidafarm owner and Estonian Farmers' Confederation President Juhan Särgava stated that really a crisis has arrived for milk producers. He couldn't evaluate if some company has to end activities but said that dairy industries have already suffered pretty big financial losses and may have to reduce their herds to be able to support the rest of the herd.

Agricultural and food producers also made a statement to the Riigikogu members, saying that when compiling the state budget, the Estonian agricultural secretor's needs and problems should not be forgotten either.

In their address, they emphasized that, the effects of sanctions' implemented for security reasons should be borne by the whole society and not just by the agriculture and food sector alone.

"Although the final conclusions of the effects of the Russian import restrictions cannot yet be drawn, milk purchase prices have after the imposition of sanctions decreased by 20-35%, and for Estonian farmers, this means milk revenue decreases alone of by about 4 million euros a month and the purchase price of milk does not cover the spending made for production of milk," they said.