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Home > LatviaLatvia Agriculture and Fishing OverviewLatvia FactsLatvia has a lot of history, cultural
traditions and sights. The Capital Riga is the largest city in
the Baltic States and the city's old town, which is on the list
of World Heritage Sites, is very popular. AgricultureOne third of the country's area is cultivable. Cereal production has increased a few years into the 2010s, but dairy production is also important, as is forestry and fishing. Nearly a tenth of the workforce worked in agriculture by the mid-2010s.
Agricultural production as a whole has dropped from one-fifth of GDP at independence to around 3 percent by mid-2010. Agriculture was hit by dramatic price increases on, among other things, fuel and seeds when the state subsidies were removed at the beginning of the 1990s. Part of the huge export market in the east was lost when the Soviet Union disbanded. Most of the cultivated land has been privatized. The roughly 600 collective farms were broken up into a few hundred thousand farms, most of them small and inefficient without competitiveness in the EU market. Lots of farmers were forced to abandon their farms. However, some agricultural and fishing communities were transformed into profitable companies. During the 2010s, the area of individual agriculture has increased. After Latvia's EU accession in 2004, agricultural exports increased sharply. Two thirds of agricultural land is used for cultivation and one third for pasture. Besides cereals - mainly wheat but also barley, oats and rye - potatoes, rapeseed, vegetables, fruits and berries are grown. Cattle are most common among livestock breeders, followed by pigs and chickens. Pigs and dairy products are exported to Russia. Honey is also an important export product. About half of the country's area is covered by forest, mainly conifers but also birch and other deciduous trees. Forest and timber products are Latvia's largest export products, primarily timber and pulpwood, but also products from the wood and furniture industry. Swedish forest companies are major players in Latvia. For Latvia defense and foreign policy, please check relationshipsplus.
In Latvia, herring and herring fishing is primarily conducted, and most of the catch is exported. Ever since the Soviet era, Latvia has been an important supplier of canned fish to Russia and other former Soviet states. However, the fishing industry was also affected by declining Russian imports in connection with the Ukraine crisis in the mid-2010s.
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