Prospects and Difficulties of Some Livestock Farms Operating on Homokhátság

Kőszegi, Irén Rita

Keywords: feed and crop prices, animal husbandry, drought, Homokhátság, young farmers, Q15

My previous primary research in 2017-2018 focused on young farmers working on Homokhátság (Sand Ridge between the danube and the Tisza rivers). I chose this area, because in my opinion, the farmers here face more and more serious problems and challenges, which are specific to the this studied area. I reached the farmers previously using the snowball method. My current goal was to go back to some of the farmers working in animal husbandry and mixed farming at the time. I asked them how the farm has changed since then, how they see the current state of animal husbandry, how difficult they are facing drought, rising feed and crop prices, what factors affect the future of their farms, even their survival, what factors pose risks. During my current visit, i have found that the emergence of animal diseases (avian influenza, African swine fever), changes in purchase prices and changes in feed and crop prices, the size of the farms are all determine the future of the farms visited. Although the majority of the farmers visited do not plan to expand their livestock, the aim is to keep or minimize the current livestock, but this is greatly influenced by the livestock sector of the farm. None of the farms want to give up livestock farming altogether. Pig farmers are also more likely to wait out and reduce their sow population, rather than eradicating the entire livestock. It is advantageous for beef cattle to be able to keep the animals in extensive conditions and grazing can be arranged for a significant part of the year. The dairy cattle farms see the future in modernization, as labour shortages are also significant in this segment of agriculture. During my previous visit, young farmers also mentioned the purchase of arable land as a difficulty, which is even more typical and perceptible today. The expansion and modernization of machinery and equipment is included in the plans of each farm, which has obsolete machinery and equipment, and tries to rejuvenate it and replace it with more modern ones. Overall, it is not clear whether their situation has improved over the years, but it is reassuring that they want to expand their farms or at least continue to operate.

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