Luxembourg's farmers are facing mounting financial pressure after an exceptionally hot and dry summer hit grass and maize yields across the country.
Jeff Boonen, MP of the Christian Social People's Party (CSV) and president of parliament's Agriculture Committee, told RTL on Wednesday that the latest weather-related difficulties came on top of several successive crises, including higher energy and fertiliser costs.
Farmers were now feeling the cumulative impact, he said. At the same time, he added, the situation differed considerably from one farm to another, particularly depending on whether they had been able to build up reserves during better years.
Last year, for example, grass grew well and maize yields were above average, according to Boonen. He noted that Agriculture Minister Martine Hansen said in response to a parliamentary question that this year's maize crop was down by around 20% to 25%, compared with yields around 10% to 15% above normal last year.
Farms that had been able to carry feed over from last year were therefore under less immediate pressure. Others had been much harder hit, with insurers reporting "100% losses" in maize in some areas, he said.
Some livestock farmers have already begun reducing their herds in response to the shortage of feed.
Boonen said this could involve selling animals that would otherwise have been kept for breeding or sending some cattle to slaughter earlier than planned. For individual farms, he said, it was a way of reducing the number of animals consuming increasingly scarce and expensive feed.
Liquidity was now "the biggest problem" for many farms, he added, particularly as several difficulties were occurring at once while milk and grain prices remained low.
Boonen explained that a draft law following the agricultural tripartite talks could provide some relief. Although originally conceived as support for fertiliser costs, the aid is due to be paid as a per-hectare supplement regardless of how much fertiliser individual farms used, he said.
According to Boonen, this should provide businesses with much-needed cash at an important time. If the money is to be paid out this year, applications will need to open in October, and he expects parliament to vote on the legislation at one of its first sittings, he said.
Crop insurance is also expected to play a significant role this year.
The Luxembourg state covers 65% of farmers' insurance premiums, while around 54,000 hectares are currently insured. Boonen defended the system, arguing that it allows compensation to be targeted at farms that have actually suffered damage rather than distributing public aid broadly after every drought.
Neighbouring countries "envy us for the amount the state contributes", he said, although he acknowledged that participation could still increase.
Vegetable production remains particularly difficult to insure because individual plots can contain different crops with very different irrigation needs and risk profiles, he said.
This year, Boonen noted, virtually all the money collected by the insurance scheme would be needed, with payouts expected to reach around €9 million.
The system nevertheless depends on losses remaining exceptional rather than becoming the norm. "Climate change is real", Boonen said. If extreme losses become structural rather than occasional, insurance alone will no longer be enough and "we will have to take other measures".
Boonen also addressed criticism from parts of the farming sector over environmental and biodiversity rules, despite farmers being among those most directly exposed to climate change.
He said there was no doubt that efforts to tackle climate change needed to intensify. However, he warned against reducing agricultural production in Luxembourg in the name of environmental protection while continuing to consume the same products and simply importing them from elsewhere.
"We have to be careful not to protect the environment here while effectively relocating the environmental impact to other parts of the world", he said.
Agriculture in Luxembourg would nevertheless have to adapt. One area where this could become increasingly important is livestock farming, Boonen noted.
He argued that, in the long term, the number of animals raised in Luxembourg should be better aligned with the amount of land and locally available feed. If droughts reduce domestic feed production while livestock numbers remain unchanged, farms become increasingly dependent on imported feed, including soya from countries such as Brazil, Boonen explained.
For the long-term future of Luxembourg's dairy and meat sectors, livestock production therefore needs to "fit the land we have", he said, adding that future agricultural legislation should reflect that reality.
The government also wants Luxembourg to produce more fruit and vegetables, but Boonen said that ambition could not be achieved without better access to irrigation.
"Professional vegetable production is not possible without irrigation", he said. "You can look abroad and see that for yourself. We have to accept that."
Large water retention basins and irrigation infrastructure have been discussed for years, with several pilot projects launched to examine possible solutions. According to Boonen, however, progress has been too slow.
He acknowledged that such projects can have a significant environmental impact and require detailed studies covering issues such as where the water comes from, how much can be collected, and whether runoff from industrial areas could be contaminated.
But the pilot projects date back to 2022, under the previous government, and he said it was now time to reach conclusions. "There are four or five projects, I think, and we really need to see a result soon and have something become reality."
Environmental assessments were necessary, he said, but authorities ultimately had to make decisions and test workable solutions. Otherwise, growers could simply give up, according to Boonen.
"We can't block things indefinitely", he said. "Otherwise everyone eventually loses the motivation to do anything.
The CSV MP was also critical of the recent decision not to renew public funding for On.perfekt, an initiative that sells and processes fruit and vegetables that would otherwise risk going to waste because they do not meet conventional appearance standards.
Boonen clarified that the agreement was with the Environment Ministry, rather than the Agriculture Ministry.
He described the abrupt end of the agreement as "very concerning", saying On.perfekt had spent around a year negotiating a new convention without being given any indication that there was a fundamental problem.
The organisation was then informed in June that its status as a societal impact company (SIS) meant its activities could no longer be financed through the Climate and Energy Fund.
Boonen argued that this sat uneasily with the government's own objectives on sustainable food and reducing food waste.
One employee who was due to carry out awareness work in schools had already left, he said, illustrating the uncertainty created by the decision.
He questioned the logic of dismantling an existing initiative when the government's own plans call for more education on food waste.
Rather than allowing the initiative to disappear, Boonen said the relevant ministries should work together to find a long-term solution and secure the future of the project.
