Estonia Plans to Channel €546 Million Primarily into Agriculture and Food Production

en.Wedoany.com Reported - The Estonian government is studying the allocation of approximately €546 million in additional funding space within the EU's next budget period for 2028–2034, with agriculture and food production identified as priority areas. Estonia's Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture has proposed increasing the share of productive investment, directing more funds toward agricultural facilities, food processing, production technologies, energy efficiency, biosecurity, and value-added stages of agricultural products. At this stage, not all of the €546 million has been confirmed for agriculture, and the specific allocation ratio still requires a subsequent government decision.

Under the preliminary plan currently taking shape, approximately €295 million is proposed for agriculture and food production. Of this, €245 million covers pig farming, poultry meat, eggs, horticulture, potatoes, greenhouses, irrigation, storage, and breeding; within this portion, approximately €110 million is proposed for improving productivity and competitiveness, including agricultural production technologies, resource efficiency, biogas, renewable energy, and value-added processing of agricultural products, with an additional €50 million allocated for biosecurity, land improvement, reserves, logistics, food safety, and national laboratory capacity building. Another €50 million is proposed for direct investment in the food industry.

The €50 million in support proposed for the food industry will cover the seven-year period of 2028–2034, which is lower than the approximately €78.1 million in related investment support under the current budget period. The Estonian Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce has proposed increasing the share of direct investment in agricultural and food production facilities; Minister of Regional Affairs and Agriculture Hendrik Johannes Terras also believes that the current preliminary allocation of €295 million is insufficient and hopes to increase production capacity and food industry investment in the final national plan.

The industry expects that public funding will also drive companies to add capital expenditure. According to estimates by the Estonian Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce, private sector investment could reach approximately twice the level of public support funding, with total investment in agriculture and food production expected to exceed €2 billion over seven years. These funds can be directed toward new and renovated farms, greenhouses, storage facilities, food production lines, deep-processing facilities, and supporting energy, logistics, and storage systems.

Estonia's fixed asset investment in agriculture currently remains below the EU average. Industry data show that in 2024, agricultural enterprises in Estonia held approximately €1,567 in buildings, machinery, and equipment assets per hectare of land, compared with an EU average of approximately €2,456; agricultural output value per unit area was approximately €1,350, compared with an EU average of approximately €3,025. In the previous year, Estonia's imports of agricultural products and food exceeded its exports by approximately €539 million.