Farmers of cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, apples and mushrooms for example will be eligible to apply for compensation.

The European Commission decided on Monday to offer a total of 125 million euros in compensation for the losses incurred by fruit and vegetable farmers due to the retaliatory sanctions of Russia, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry reveals.

“There are unlikely to be too many possible applicants for compensation in Finland due to the scarcity of fruit and vegetable exports to Russia,” reminds Risto Artjoki, a state secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

The payments, the ministry adds, will be disbursed from a reserve of 400 million euros allocated for intervention in agricultural markets in the budget of the European Union. The support measures will include market withdrawals for free distribution and compensation for non-harvesting and green harvesting.

The exports of fruit and vegetables from Central Europe to Russia, in turn, are relatively substantial. The crops incorporated in the scheme are currently in full season and, as a result, the harvest is at risk of going bad in the storages of farmers as the demand declines.

The deadline for applications is in late November.

Finland and other countries affected by the retaliatory sanctions of Russia will continue their preparatory work with the European Commission to extend the compensation scheme also to the livestock sector.

“In Finland, the import bans of Russia concern primarily dairy products but also the meat industry. Finland has notified the commission of the losses incurred by our food producers and called for compensation,” Petteri Orpo (NCP), the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, says in a bulletin.

Petri Sajari – HS

Aleksi Teivainen – HT

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Photo: Trond H. Trosdahl / Lehtikuva