Fields of failure
Now that the wailing over the EU's treatment of rural Poland is at its peak it is well worth looking at the way the country has been guilty of missing its chances and has contributed nothing to the debate over the future of the woeful Common Agricultural Policy.
For several years now it has been clear that Europe is rejecting intensive farming. BSE, breakouts of foot and mouth and the general trend towards respecting biodiversity have changed the way the debate is taking place. Organic farming is on the up throughout Europe, and people are beginning to distrust food produced with the aid of high concentrations of fertilisers and pesticides. Genetically-modified food produce is a total no-no in Europe.
There has also been a marked increase in European ecological tourism. Vacations down on the farm are increasingly fashionable. Nature is a popular theme in rural tourism. The debate over the reform of CAP is becoming dominated by environmentalists calling for organic farming to protect the environment.
Poland has an agriculture which is very near organic due to its low use of fertilisers and pesticides. The country has the richest biodiversity in the whole of Europe. It seems that in present circumstances it could not lose. Suddenly the fact that farming here was so rustic and its farms so small was not a disadvantage.
You must never underestimate the capacity of we Poles to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The goal was wide open, but the ball has missed it completely and ended high up in the stand along with the spectators.
The country's inept governments did their best to do what they usually do, which is nothing. Instead of urgently addressing the need to get many farmers to begin the three year application period required to obtain organic certification so that on day one of accession we are ready for an onslaught on EU food markets, the government took its time.
The domestic organic farming industry is very scattered. There are currently only 2,500 organic farms (of an alleged total of nearly 2 million farms, although many of these are simply part-time smallholdings whose number has never been properly established). It lacks the concentration required to be economically viable. Despite there being interest on western markets for this type of product, the supply is not meeting the demand.
In the case of rural tourism, it is true that it has grown significantly. But that still has not offset the falling number of foreign visitors to the country. (See story on page 24). The country is totally unconvincing in marketing itself on western tourist markets. Instead of making biodiversity a leading theme in promoting the country, advertisers commissioned by public authorities produce logos of kites. There is no concerted campaign to get people to come here in the way that has been successfully promoted in diverse countries in the region, including Hungary, the Czech Republic, Croatia and Slovenia. Money-strapped governments leave it to incapable civil servants with no marketing or promotional skills instead of getting hold of a professional agency. This has led to an inane idea to have Harrison Ford star in a movie, in which the heroine is rescued by a swarthy mountaineer after (an all too likely possibility) a bus swings off the road.
With such a huge agriculture and rural sector Poland should be bursting with ideas and arguments for reforming the CAP. The country could benefit greatly from de-coupling direct payments from production and favouring organic farming and paying for land management and environmental measures.
On the contrary. The government has been conspicuous by its absence from the CAP reform debate. Its decision-makers have been obsessed with getting the maximum in direct payments for farmers without a thought to how the CAP might evolve. They have failed, of course. Politically, it really would have been smarter to have begun the whole game by arguing for the end of direct payments throughout Europe. There was no chance of that coming about, but such a stance might have persuaded the British, Germans, Dutch and Scandinavians to get a little tougher in the fight for CAP reform. But in the absence of backing from central Europe, the North Europeans fought to keep direct payments for applicant countries to a minimum in order to contain an emerging alliance between southern and central Europeans.
Having missed the carrot of organic farming and rural tourism, Poland is now feeling the sharp stick of EU budget constraints. Passivity and lack of creativity are the hallmarks of the country's road to accession. These are not good omens for our future inside the EU. In all the rounds of enlargement so far, no country has, in the longer term, lost out by joining the EU. There's always a first time for everything.
For several years now it has been clear that Europe is rejecting intensive farming. BSE, breakouts of foot and mouth and the general trend towards respecting biodiversity have changed the way the debate is taking place. Organic farming is on the up throughout Europe, and people are beginning to distrust food produced with the aid of high concentrations of fertilisers and pesticides. Genetically-modified food produce is a total no-no in Europe.
There has also been a marked increase in European ecological tourism. Vacations down on the farm are increasingly fashionable. Nature is a popular theme in rural tourism. The debate over the reform of CAP is becoming dominated by environmentalists calling for organic farming to protect the environment.
Poland has an agriculture which is very near organic due to its low use of fertilisers and pesticides. The country has the richest biodiversity in the whole of Europe. It seems that in present circumstances it could not lose. Suddenly the fact that farming here was so rustic and its farms so small was not a disadvantage.
You must never underestimate the capacity of we Poles to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The goal was wide open, but the ball has missed it completely and ended high up in the stand along with the spectators.
The country's inept governments did their best to do what they usually do, which is nothing. Instead of urgently addressing the need to get many farmers to begin the three year application period required to obtain organic certification so that on day one of accession we are ready for an onslaught on EU food markets, the government took its time.
The domestic organic farming industry is very scattered. There are currently only 2,500 organic farms (of an alleged total of nearly 2 million farms, although many of these are simply part-time smallholdings whose number has never been properly established). It lacks the concentration required to be economically viable. Despite there being interest on western markets for this type of product, the supply is not meeting the demand.
In the case of rural tourism, it is true that it has grown significantly. But that still has not offset the falling number of foreign visitors to the country. (See story on page 24). The country is totally unconvincing in marketing itself on western tourist markets. Instead of making biodiversity a leading theme in promoting the country, advertisers commissioned by public authorities produce logos of kites. There is no concerted campaign to get people to come here in the way that has been successfully promoted in diverse countries in the region, including Hungary, the Czech Republic, Croatia and Slovenia. Money-strapped governments leave it to incapable civil servants with no marketing or promotional skills instead of getting hold of a professional agency. This has led to an inane idea to have Harrison Ford star in a movie, in which the heroine is rescued by a swarthy mountaineer after (an all too likely possibility) a bus swings off the road.
With such a huge agriculture and rural sector Poland should be bursting with ideas and arguments for reforming the CAP. The country could benefit greatly from de-coupling direct payments from production and favouring organic farming and paying for land management and environmental measures.
On the contrary. The government has been conspicuous by its absence from the CAP reform debate. Its decision-makers have been obsessed with getting the maximum in direct payments for farmers without a thought to how the CAP might evolve. They have failed, of course. Politically, it really would have been smarter to have begun the whole game by arguing for the end of direct payments throughout Europe. There was no chance of that coming about, but such a stance might have persuaded the British, Germans, Dutch and Scandinavians to get a little tougher in the fight for CAP reform. But in the absence of backing from central Europe, the North Europeans fought to keep direct payments for applicant countries to a minimum in order to contain an emerging alliance between southern and central Europeans.
Having missed the carrot of organic farming and rural tourism, Poland is now feeling the sharp stick of EU budget constraints. Passivity and lack of creativity are the hallmarks of the country's road to accession. These are not good omens for our future inside the EU. In all the rounds of enlargement so far, no country has, in the longer term, lost out by joining the EU. There's always a first time for everything.
