Price explosion due to the war conflict
2022. April 25.Even in Hungarian shops, the price rise is already being felt, partly due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
The rise in prices is far from over, and you can read more about this in this article.
Prices rise significantly due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict
Tensions are escalating in the Black Sea basin in view of the war situation.
The port of Constanta, Romania, has become more prominent because of the mines laid.
As there is no steady flow of cargo, the price of produce has started to rise.
Another factor pushing up prices is the Ukrainian minister’s statement that the area sown to spring crops is expected to be half of last year’s.
It is estimated that only 3.3 million hectares of maize will be sown, down from 5.4 million hectares last year.
Another problem is that the application of fertiliser to the fields will be compromised, resulting in a less efficient harvest of crops already sown in the autumn.
On the Paris commodity exchange, there are huge price variations.
While the May wheat futures price was around €270 in mid-February, it is now €379.
A similar trend can be observed for maize, where the February price of €240-250 per tonne is now over €335 per tonne.
Rapeseed is now €1,005 per tonne.
The situation is no better in Hungary.
According to data from the Market Price Information System of the Institute of Agricultural Economics (AKI PÁIR) , the price of table wheat rose 156% year-on-year to 111.5 thousand HUF/tonne in the first half of March, and this does not include VAT or transport costs.
The increase for feed wheat is more significant, up 167 percent to 106.9 thousand HUF/tonne.
The price of maize has also increased considerably, with a producer price of 103.7 thousand HUF/tonne in the first half of March, 48% higher than last year.
The change is most dramatic for rapeseed, where the price per tonne has risen by 170 per cent to HUF 256.1 thousand.
Farmers have to deal with more and more alien pests
Lately, we not only have to control Hungarian pests, but also an increasing number of so-called alien and invasive species.
The Centre for Agricultural Research (ATK) has published a book on this subject.
The understanding, detection and control of these pests is becoming increasingly important.
The book presents the results of research to date, new viruses, damaging bacteria, fungi, not least insects, mites, snails (domestic and slugs). 
The predecessor of the Agricultural Research Centre in the 19th century.
It was established in the 19th century to control phylloxera.
The phylloxera, or grapevine rootworm, which came to Europe from America, was a very aggressive pest, destroying entire vineyards.
It could only be controlled by inoculation.
The laboratory in Keszthely was set up to control the potato weevil, while the American weevil was researched in the laboratory in Nyíregyháza.
Today’s climate change, international trade and free movement of goods are increasingly allowing the introduction of alien and invasive pests.
The lack of natural enemies of these pests in our country is also a major problem.
One of the most important tasks of the ATK is to develop effective, efficient and environmentally friendly control measures.
In the book referred to, in addition to a large number of colour pictures, the potential plant protection applications of metabolites of certain alien weed species and the alien fungal diseases threatening our amphibians are also discussed.
Production down, output up in domestic agriculture
According to some agricultural experts, Hungarian agriculture is doing well, but it is worth examining the issue in comparison with other European countries such as Austria, the Netherlands and Poland.
According to the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH), the output of Hungarian agriculture reached HUF 2973 billion in 2020 and HUF 3378 billion last year.
In this period, the increase was 13.6 percent, primarily due to price rises, as prices rose by 116 percent, while the mass of production fell by 2.3 percent.
A 2021.
In the year 2021, the output of crop production was 61 percent, while that of livestock production was 32 percent.
Last year, Hungary accounted for 2.1 per cent of total agricultural output in the European Union.
Agricultural production has been expanding over the last 30 years, but in Hungary it fell sharply in the years after the fall of communism, and this trend has remained unchanged since then.
In general, agricultural production in EU countries has been growing steadily, despite the weaker performance of southern European countries.
In the four countries already mentioned, the growth rate was above the EU average.
Although our country has also seen strong growth in agriculture, Poland has been able to take advantage of EU opportunities twice as well as our country.
It is worth mentioning the Netherlands, where the gross production value per hectare is steadily increasing.
Hungary is lagging behind in terms of growth rates, especially when compared with other countries.