About Poland
Corporate Infiltration of the Animal Sector Being Met with Resistance
Polish agriculture is still largely based on small family farms. The average size of family farms in Poland is 7.5 ha UAA (Utilised Agricultural Area), although regional differences are significant. The smallest family farms are located in southern Poland, their average size being 3.3 ha UAA. The largest farms (over 20 ha UAA) can be found in north-western Poland. The largest agricultural holdings that cover a total area of several thousand hectares were created on the basis of state-owned farms.1 Nowadays, they are either private, public or corporate.
From 1990 to 2003, the total number of farms decreased steadily, mostly affecting medium-sized farms. During the same period, the number of both the smallest and the largest farms was on the rise. In 2003, the interest in agriculture was renewed due to the prospect of receiving EU-agricultural subsidies after joining the Union in May 2004. Currently, the largest group of Polish farms are those under 5 hectares.
Farms and their sizes in percentage
Although agricultural holdings larger than 10 ha UAA make up only 20% of farms, they cover 60% of all Polish UAA. Enlarging individual farms is encouraged by preferential credits. This follows the neo-liberal notion that Polish agriculture needs “restructuring” as large number of small farms that produce little is wrongfully considered to be a sign of backwardness.
In Poland, the “restructuring” of agriculture greatly favours big, corporate players and is contributing considerably to the further industrialisation of the animal sector. According to Wojciech Olejniczak, former Polish Minister of Agriculture, the percentage of slaughtering carried out by industrial facilities increased from 45% in 2001 to almost 70% in 2004.2 These large processing plants are exporting to both Western and Eastern Europe, Asia and the United States, as well as meeting the demand of big hypermarkets chains operating in Poland.
Often, these large processing plants are connected to large animal operations. The Green Federation Gaja estimates that in Pomerania alone there are 40 industrial farms “that produce around two million cubic meters of manure annually. In order to utilise such amount of manure, best agricultural practice suggests that farms need to comprise around 60.000 hectares.[...] The reality is that the farms occupy fifteen percent of the required area.”3
Corporate infiltration in Polish agriculture is particularly visible in the meat sector. Companies such as Smithfield Foods and Poldanor were able to achieve very strong market presence shortly after they moved into Poland.
American Smithfieldentered Poland in 1999 and started taking over Polish meat companies and their brands (Animex, Constar, Krakus), as well as operating large animal operations and contracting with farmers. The company specialises in pig production, although it also holds shares in Polish poultry companies such as Eco-drob and Animex. Danish Poldanor started doing business in Poland in 1994 and now operates 16 farms with 600 sows in the north-western part of the country.
The aim of corporations such as Smithfield and Poldanor is to control the entire meat production chain: from raising hogs (Smithfield also produces animal feed) to slaughtering to processing and packaging. The well-known proverb “from stable to table” applies greatly, but its implications are alarming.
Corporate livestock feeding operations pose a serious threat to family farming. Farmers with small herds are not able to compete with big industrial farms. Farmers who want to keep up with such competition will naturally feel pressure to become more like their competitors. Another option family farmers choose out of necessity is to make peace with industrial slaughterhouses and big meatpackers by becoming contractors. This fosters the problem of farm factorisation and often blurs the distinction between family farming and industrial farming.
For the time being, the number of pigs seems to be the only criterion allowing factory farms to be categorised, and certain regulations are in place to protect the communities where these farms operate. However, this may mean very little in real life. Although in Poland all farms that own 750 or more sows must receive special permission from the local government, oftentimes big farmers simply ignore this requirement. According to the Green Federation Gaja, more than half of the farms in question have so far failed to obtain these permits. Such documents could help evaluate the impact of large farms on the environment and identify farms that are particularly burdensome to the environment and local communities.4
The ability of large farms to get away with showing insufficient documentation for their activities is unfair for consumers and residents living close to these operations. Additionally, these businesses are inadequately scrutinised in terms of following regulations, while small farms cannot afford to be at odds with regulations.
Polish environmental activists, small farmers and people living near CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) have taken action against them. People are very outspoken about the nuisance of odor and manure leakages from factory farms. Civic committees opposed to factory farming have been established in many villages. Roads have been blocked to protest farmers who have signed contracts with Smithfield Foods. Animal welfare activists have taken many steps to inform the public about the terrible conditions within CAFOs. And these problems have been featured in the Polish media, both mainstream and independent.
Factory farms in Poland are changing the picture of Polish agriculture, but the battles against them continue at the civil society level. Although both the Polish people and the current government oppose factory farms, these polluting operations remain in business, as environmental laws are, unfortunately, still lax. These loose regulations allow meat corporations to perform obscure maneuvers in the area of property law and construction law. Therefore, it is not enough to make corporations such as Smithfield and Poldanor understand that they are not welcome. If legislation is not made stricter and, above all, enforced, these companies will continue to pollute the environment and to endanger public health with impunity.
Overview of milk sector in Poland
Poland is largest milk producer among countries that joined the EU in 2004. It has considerably more milk cows than its immediate neighbours. In fact, Poland’s 2.8 million cows comprise 11.6% of all the cows in the European Union. Yet their milking abilities are rather low: on average, a Polish cow produces less milk than an Estonian, German or Czech cow. Other Eastern European countries with low per-cow milk production include Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia5, but these countries are not important players on the European milk market.
Even though Polish cows are not the most efficient in terms of milk production, their sheer number makes Poland an important participant in the European milk market. Poland is the fourth largest milk producer in the European Union and the sixth largest European producer (Russia included). In recent years, Poland’s milk production constituted about 8.7% of total milk production in the European Union and 54% of the milk produced in the countries that joined the EU in 2004. Compared to the other 2004 EU joiners, Poland is a milk giant, producing five times more milk than the Czech Republic, which is the second-largest producer among new EU members.6
Poland’s milk sector is not as modernised as Germany’s, but it leads Latvia and Lithuania. It employs about one-fourth of all people who work in agriculture. In 2004, milk producers in Poland received about the same price (24.8 Euro per 100 litres) for their milk as farmers in Belgium and the Czech Republic, and more than milk farmers in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Therefore, the attractiveness of Polish milk within the reality of the European Union can no longer be based on its low price and will have to be related to its good quality.
Under the Accession Treaty, Poland, as a new member of the European Union, currently has an annual milk quota of 8.6 million tons7 and additional “direct sales quotas” of 464.000 tons. (When these quotas are exceeded, penalties are applied.) Polish milk quota is the largest milk quota allotted to any country that joined the EU in 2004. When compared to Europe’s three largest milk producers (Germany, France and the United Kingdom), Poland’s milk quota is relatively small. Britain, which is only one rank higher than Poland in milk production, has a milk quota of around 14 million metric tons.
Poland is urging the EU to increase its milk quota, but these requests have gone unfulfilled so far. A significant number of Polish milk farmers considers the milk quota system to be unfair and want it abolished, not realising what other problems this could entail. Eliminating milk quotas, for example, would likely lower EU prices to the world’s level. It would also favor large producers, as their production costs are usually lower due to their externalization affecting local communities. It means that big producers will be able to keep their production costs low and even note profits, while local communities may notice deterioration of the environment as well as inability of small farms to sell their milk at sustainable price.
Poland produced 8.9 million tons of milk during its 2005/2006 quota year, 4% over its quota. However, Poland did not use up its entire “direct sales quota,” which applies to milk that farmers sell themselves without involvement from milk plants. Farmers hope the European Commission will allow Poland to combine the two types of milk quotas and thereby lower penalties.
Nevertheless, about half of Polish milk farmers will have to pay penalties. They will not be as high as initially expected, but may become worse over the next few years. Polish milk farmers who produce over 800.000 litres per year with overproduction of 5000 litres are currently entitled to the “restructuring quota,” but this quota will expire after the 2006/2007 milk season.8 Farmers able to escape penalties due to the “restructuring quota” will either have to decrease their production or face penalties.
Critics of small farms contend that Poland’s milk problems are the result of having too many dairy farms. Half of Poland’s 700.000 farms that have cows sell their milk commercially to processing facilities. While this number is considered very high, it is still a sign of changes that took place in the Polish milk sector over the last ten years. In 1996, Poland had 1.3 million farms with cows.
The Polish tradition of small milk farms seems to be at odds with mainstream European milk production. Great Britain, for example, has 2 million cows (800.000 less than Poland) and in 2005 they were kept on 20.313 dairy farms. However, the British milk sector is dominated by big producers, as half of its quota is held by 20% of huge industrial milk farms.9 This is not the case with Poland, where about 80% of milk comes from 130.000 family farms that have 5 cows or fewer.10
For supporters of industrial agriculture, this could be considered backwardness, but for the defenders of family farming it serves as proof that family farms are able to produce good quality milk that meets current EU standards. It is also important to note that many rural areas in Poland have an unemployment rate close to 40%, and having a milk cow may be an important source of income and nutrition for many poor families.
In 2005 Poland had 356 milk processing plants, 212 of which were qualified to sell milk throughout the European Union. The remaining 144 plants are still in transition and are required to fully meet the EU standards by the end of 2006. Until then, they can only sell milk products domestically. Most of them are older plants that use outdated technology and soon may face bankrupcy.
Poland also has 160 milk cooperatives (compared to 400 in the 1990s) and they deal with 80% of the purchasing and processing of milk from farmers, as they are service cooperatives. In addition to cooperatives, private enterprises control about 20% of the milk purchasing and processing in Poland.11 At the same time, the country is experiencing the decline in direct milk sales.
Poland is a rare example of a country that is simultaneously a big player on the European milk market and whose milk production is based on small farms. This trend should be preserved, rather than modeling the Polish milk sector after Great Britain, where industrialised farms dominate.
While Poland’s milk sector would welcome a higher national milk quota, the country is is not fully utilising its direct quota. Consumers should therefore be encouraged to buy milk directly from farmers. In return, they will enjoy high-quality products at fair prices, while helping small farmers and contributing to Poland’s more efficient use of milk quotas.
