Farmers have confidence in the future, which is also indicated by the huge oversubscription in investment applications, said the Minister of Agriculture in his annual evaluation interview.

Farmers have confidence in the future, which is also indicated by the huge oversubscription in investment applications, said Minister of Agriculture István Nagy. In order to satisfy the needs as much as possible, the investment resources intended for the entire support cycle must be used now, and in the meantime, the quality control procedure for corn will also be reviewed in order to prevent future attempts to cut prices similar to this year's on the favorable grain market.

The head of the ministry pointed out: in field crop production, which has faced great challenges in recent years, this year - even if the crop results were not good due to the drought - the market for grain and oil crops has normalized in several respects.

"From the second half of last year, the export dynamics of Hungarian grain increased, which brought so much stability that, compared to 2023, there were no storage problems before this summer's harvest. The domestic consolidation of the market situation was, and still is, helped by the maintenance of the import ban on Ukrainian agricultural products. It is also good news for us that 88 percent of Ukrainian grain left the port by sea, and what arrives in Europe ends up in markets further away from us.

At the same time, animal husbandry is performing very well, which is due to the lower grain prices, but also to the government assistance that maintains farmers' liquidity and finances developments," said István Nagy.

The minister also announced that the performance of the Hungarian pig, poultry and dairy sector increased significantly in the first ten months of 2024, even in comparison with the European Union, and the export rate of sheep and cattle also increased. "Avian flu is a problem in our poultry sector, especially in the waterfowl sector. Broiler fattening is very highly integrated and traditionally performs well. The possibilities of the turkey sector seem to be improving, which is appropriate, since there has been a decline for a long time, but now the destruction of the Polish stock has opened the way for Hungarian turkeys on the European markets, and even chicken farmers are benefiting from this, because the Hungarian turkey sector could not satisfy the growing demand needs", he pointed out.

István Nagy also talked about the problems. He said that the purchase prices in crop cultivation have not yet reached the level that would have resulted in profitability for the majority of farmers.

"What is important is that those who were able to change, even successfully diversified their production, often had positive results. This is indicated, for example, by the doubling of the sow area or the fact that there is a serious professional discourse on increasing the role of maize with a shorter growing season in production. In such a situation, the role of income-replacement agricultural subsidies becomes more valuable, the record advance payment was a substantial help for many farmers this year," he explained.

István Nagy said about the over-applications in the tender: it seems that the investment resources intended for the entire support cycle must be used now, so that we can make maximum use of this never-to-be-returned opportunity, which leads to the modernization of Hungarian agriculture, the development of the processing industry and the food industry .

"A few numbers to illustrate the situation: we originally planned HUF 480 billion for the development of the food industry for the entire cycle. We have now announced 200 billion of this, and more than 760 billion of requests for small and large projects have been received together. Therefore, we now plan to use all the available funds for this purpose, that is, we do not announce a result of 200 billion. The extraordinary level of over-demand is also true for the modernization of livestock farms. Here, the farmers submitted a request for tender support of 860 billion for the 200 billion forints," the head of the ministry explained the situation, adding:

all this shows that the farmers have realized that the added value must be increased, because if the Hungarian grain of wheat competes with the Ukrainian grain of wheat, then we lose.

"But if the Hungarian processed product is on our side, then there is a good chance that we will be the winners," he added.

You can read the entire interview on the Világgazdaság website

Cover photo: Minister of Agriculture István Nagy
Source: MTI/Boglárka Boglárka