Employment in agriculture falling, although wages rising

The average salary in agriculture in 2020 was over PLN 5,700 gross. This is PLN 550 more than the national average and 2.1 percent more than in 2019, the Central Statistical Office data indicates. Salaries are going up, but the number of employees is falling somewhat. In 2020, 81,300 people were employed in this sector, i.e. 2.7 percent less than the year before. The situation is different in organic farms, where human work is the basis of activity. Experts of the Świętokrzyska Farm indicate that automation, popular in conventional agriculture, has much less application in the case of organic farming.

"Sales of organic food are increasing and it is forecast that this trend will continue, which means that the sector is gaining new jobs. We can of course also see this in our company, where we are increasing employment because in organic farming the vast majority of tasks must be done by hand. The most tedious and labor-intensive activity is manual weeding. Organic treatments are applied to minimize weeds, but the work of human hands is irreplaceable. Crop rotation is also important. A seven-year break in the cultivation of a species in a given field ensures the biodiversity that is the basis for this type of agriculture. The purchase of specialized machines for each of at least seven crops would definitely exceed the profits of most organic farms. Therefore, people who cannot be replaced by machines are the basis and will remain," Łukasz Gębka, President of Świętokrzyska Farm, said.

(WBJ)