Poland has become a leading supplier in the EU in the production of apples or poultry. Milk processing, mostly in cooperatives, is also among the most modern sectors in the EU.
Exactly 18 years ago, i.e. in May 2004, Poland joined the European Union. This moment also became a turning point for its agriculture, which has always been among the key sectors of Poland’s economy. While accession provided a huge impulse for growth, we gradually started to define modernity in a completely different way than in those days.
Moreover, he stresses that since Poland experienced technological transformation much later than Western Europe, solutions applied in the Polish agri-food sector are relatively modern in comparison to the West.
This opinion is echoed by Mariusz Dziwulski, Analyst at PKO BP. Dziwulski adds that farmers are industrious people who manage their farms like businesses. They are increasingly well-educated, with expert knowledge. This helps them to increase efficiency on their farms.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Henryk Kowalczyk expressed a similar opinion. However, in his opinion, there is no doubt that Polish agriculture today is surprisingly modern and serves as a benchmark for others.
Why is that? Kowalczyk argues that Poland has used far fewer fertilisers and plant protection products over many decades.
Consolidation
As Dziwulski observes, the agricultural sector in Poland is undergoing consolidation and the average farming area has been increasing. Although Polish Central Statistical Office data indicate that Poland has approx. 1.32 million farms, a large proportion of arable land is leased in practice.
In his opinion, lower labour costs continue to be a competitive advantage of Polish agriculture. he says.
Olipra expresses a similar view. When asked about the hallmark of Poland’s agriculture, he replies: According to Olipra, top Polish export products include poultry, beef, mushrooms, apples, raspberries, and blueberries.
Deputy Prime Minister Kowalczyk also cites data on trade in agri-food products. - he adds.
He observes that
Challenges
What are the short-term challenges for the sector? - the PKO BP expert replies.
How can this be addressed? According to Dziwulski, Poland should certainly strive to maintain, or even increase, the efficiency of its agriculture due to threats to global food security. Olipra also believes it is a good idea to invest primarily in production methods, which enable high efficiency while limiting the negative environmental impact of agriculture.
- he concludes.
This view is confirmed by Marcin Hermanowicz, who runs a fruit farm in Ignacowo, near Grójec in Mazovia (central Poland). In his opinion, the EU Green Deal will be a challenge. However, he believes that although many farmers are very much afraid of it, the Green Deal might provide an opportunity for medium-sized farms such as his own. he explains.
He stresses that it is also important to make sure that products made in line with the European Green Deal do not have to compete with those produced in a standard way in non-EU countries. - he argues.
What are some other challenges that Hermanowicz sees? He mentions political ones. He mainly grows the ‘Gala’ apple variety, intended for export. For many years, his apples were mainly exported to England, but due to Brexit, he had to find new markets. An additional challenge for fruit growers in Poland, says Hermanowicz, is that they have been cut off from the Russian market since the invasion of Crimea in 2014. Until then, the Russian market had consumed up to a third of Polish apple production. - he adds.
Hermanowicz says that fruit sent to such distant countries must meet specific quality standards, primarily to survive six weeks of sea transport. In order to meet this requirement, his farm applies a number of agrotechnical solutions which boost the durability of fruit: from specialised fertilisation and precise methods to set the harvest date, to cold storage with a controlled climate.
The fruit grower explains that this requires constant learning and considerable investment. In recent years, his farm has benefited from EU subsidies from the Farm Modernisation programme. - he admits.
Sustainable production
“Today, Europe wants to fight climate change. However, agriculture is not the main culprit when it comes to this change. Of course, it is not totally innocent, but the type of farm we have in Poland is environmentally-friendly” argues Deputy Prime Minister Kowalczyk.
,
Rural sociologist Ruta Śpiewak, PhD, from the Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development, Polish Academy of Sciences, also mentions the problem of agricultural behemoths. In her view, Poland has two parallel types of agriculture: on the one hand, small farms producing mainly for their own sustenance, and, on the other hand, large industrial businesses which engage in intensive agricultural production.
When asked whether the large ones are modern, she replies, “It depends on how we define modern. From an environmental and climate point of view, a considerable proportion of large farms are simply harmful.”
In her opinion, such farms produce food of increasingly poor quality, harm the environment, and poison the soil and water, thus contributing to climate disaster. - she points out. Ruta Śpiewak believes that modern farming is represented by organic farms or those engaging in so-called regenerative agriculture: their output does not harm the environment and leaves a negative carbon footprint. However, Poland still has very few such farms, even compared to the rest of the European Union.
How well are these challenges identified by the European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork Strategy? - replies Ruta Śpiewak.
>> Special edition: World economic forum Davos 2022 <<Materiał chroniony prawem autorskim - wszelkie prawa zastrzeżone.
Dalsze rozpowszechnianie artykułu za zgodą wydawcy INFOR PL S.A. Kup licencję.
Wpisz adres e-mail wybranej osoby, a my wyślemy jej bezpłatny dostęp do tego artykułu