Urmas Kruuse, Estonia’s Minister of Rural Affairs: Pioneering Global Excellence in F&B from a Compact European Nation
On paper, Estonia shouldn’t be a big name in food. About 1.3 million people live there, and the whole country is just over 45,000 km2. Still, it ranks as Europe’s second-largest organic farming nation, and its food is the second cleanest in Europe. Urmas Kruuse, who as Minister of Rural Affairs leads this side of Estonia’s economy, puts that down to one thing: a commitment to cleanliness.
Why does clean matter so much? For people at home, obviously. But Kruuse also links it to trade, since a country that wants to sell food abroad has to be trusted. Milk is the best example. Estonia has lots of grassland, its farms produce more milk than Estonians drink, and dairy ends up as the country’s leading export. Grain works the same way. Farmers grow more cereal than the country needs, and the extra is sold overseas.
A small, open economy like Estonia’s depends on export markets, ideally large and stable ones. Finding them is part of Kruuse’s job. He and his team went to EXPO 2020 Dubai and to Gulfood, the well-known food exhibition in the UAE, hoping to make useful partners there.
The UAE looks like a good fit. It is known for the quality and variety of its food and drink. Estonia is proud of its own food culture and sees enough in common with the UAE to build a trade relationship that lasts. It already has an embassy there and now wants long-term contacts and trade ties.
Food is one of Estonia’s strengths, but it also talks up technology and sustainability when it meets new trade partners. It points to the technology that supports its farms and to its progress with e-government. According to Kruuse, data will matter a great deal for the future of farming, and Estonia is studying how data mining could raise production and help organic farmers.
Being small also makes Estonia quick to act on sustainability. It is cutting back on chemicals and pesticides and bringing agricultural technology into production. Add ethical breeding practices and close work with partners, and Estonia is shaping up as a new export partner for a global food market that cares about sustainability and the environment.
