Poland wakes up to EU reality

TRUTNOWY, Poland – Zdzislaw Solarz is a rarity among Poland’s 2 million farmers – he believed that European Union entry would benefit him and his country’s agricultural sector.

Most Polish farmers feared the worst when Poland and other former communist Central European states joined the EU on May 1, thinking membership of the bloc would open the floodgates to massive imports of cheap food and drive them into bankruptcy. Solarz, who owns a 190-hectare grain farm, chose not to listen.Instead, he spent countless nights teaching himself and a small group of like-minded neighbours how to make the most out of joining the EU.”Farming is no longer about inheriting land – it is a business like any other,” he says.Understanding that complex EU farm policy favours size, Solarz and his neighbours formed a producers’ group and invested in upgrading their farms to Western levels.They now have a greater bargaining power with suppliers, and thanks to their newly built grain storage facilities they can manage their pricing better by not having to sell their crops at the end of the harvest.They will benefit this year, when for the first time the state will not support farmers through direct grain purchases at a guaranteed price.Lack of state support will force a faster pace of change in the farm sector and could be bad news to many small farmers, analysts say.Yet, gloom-and-doom scenarios predicted by political parties popular in the countryside ahead of EU accession have failed to materialise.In fact, the opposite has happened.Farmers were among the first to gain from EU entry as Western, mainly German, importers rushed in to buy their produce practically from day one.Even smaller farms in western parts of the country were selling milk and livestock by the truckload.As prices shot up and farmers’ pockets filled with cash, the countryside’s previous euroscepticism gave way to cautious optimism.”Pre-accession fears did not materialise and farmers are starting to believe that it will not get worse,” says Jan Ardanowski, head of the Polish farmers union.A survey released this month by Polish pollster CBOS confirmed that farmers were warming to EU membership, with support growing to 67 per cent, up from about 50 per cent at the start of the year.Farming officials say more farmers are following Solarz’s example and producers’ groups are sprouting up across the country in a sign that an overhaul of the agricultural sector is speeding up.Poland has witnessed fast economic growth since the collapse of communism 15 years ago but little of this has trickled through to the countryside where poverty and unemployment are rampant.Over half of Poland’s farms, most with an area of just a few hectares, produce only for their own consumption – de facto subsistence farming.The sector’s contribution to gross domestic product has fallen around three percent at present from 6,9 per cent in 1995.- Nampa-ReutersSolarz, who owns a 190-hectare grain farm, chose not to listen.Instead, he spent countless nights teaching himself and a small group of like-minded neighbours how to make the most out of joining the EU.”Farming is no longer about inheriting land – it is a business like any other,” he says.Understanding that complex EU farm policy favours size, Solarz and his neighbours formed a producers’ group and invested in upgrading their farms to Western levels.They now have a greater bargaining power with suppliers, and thanks to their newly built grain storage facilities they can manage their pricing better by not having to sell their crops at the end of the harvest.They will benefit this year, when for the first time the state will not support farmers through direct grain purchases at a guaranteed price.Lack of state support will force a faster pace of change in the farm sector and could be bad news to many small farmers, analysts say.Yet, gloom-and-doom scenarios predicted by political parties popular in the countryside ahead of EU accession have failed to materialise.In fact, the opposite has happened.Farmers were among the first to gain from EU entry as Western, mainly German, importers rushed in to buy their produce practically from day one.Even smaller farms in western parts of the country were selling milk and livestock by the truckload.As prices shot up and farmers’ pockets filled with cash, the countryside’s previous euroscepticism gave way to cautious optimism.”Pre-accession fears did not materialise and farmers are starting to believe that it will not get worse,” says Jan Ardanowski, head of the Polish farmers union.A survey released this month by Polish pollster CBOS confirmed that farmers were warming to EU membership, with support growing to 67 per cent, up from about 50 per cent at the start of the year.Farming officials say more farmers are following Solarz’s example and producers’ groups are sprouting up across the country in a sign that an overhaul of the agricultural sector is speeding up.Poland has witnessed fast economic growth since the collapse of communism 15 years ago but little of this has trickled through to the countryside where poverty and unemployment are rampant.Over half of Poland’s farms, most with an area of just a few hectares, produce only for their own consumption – de facto subsistence farming.The sector’s contribution to gross domestic product has fallen around three percent at present from 6,9 per cent in 1995.- Nampa-Reuters