- The Lublin Agricultural Association was established in the Lublin region
- Farmers unite to activate the local community, provide training, and have a real impact on government actions
- If we stand still, we will achieve nothing, they say.
The Lublin region is an agricultural region. As much as 70.2% of the province's area is covered by agricultural land. Additionally, this region is distinguished by great biodiversity. Here we can find grains, orchards, fruit and vegetable farms, as well as herbal farms.
On the other hand, Lublin is still sometimes called Poland "B" – until recently, a region almost forgotten by governments is now developing dynamically. Along with economic development, there is also a belief in society that it is possible to do better, more, differently.
After a wave of agricultural strikes at the beginning of the year, farmers began to unite in larger or smaller groups. They argue that regional groups have the greatest chance of functioning efficiently, because each region struggles with different problems, faces different challenges and must meet different requirements.
A group of farmers came up with a similar idea and stated that, colloquially speaking, there is strength in numbers, and decided to establish the Lublin Agricultural Association, which is to be not only a form of community integration, but also a place where they will be able to activate, train and really influence the decisions made by the government.
In conversation with the association's representatives, one can feel the enthusiasm and energy. And the conviction that it is in them that the power lies.
The Lublin Agricultural Association unites farmers from the Lublin region – says Jarosław Miściur, one of the founders of the LSR, in an interview with Farmer. – At the moment, it is formed by several dozen farmers from different counties of the Lublin region. Strictly production farmers who produce in various branches. Starting with grain production, through vegetables, orchards, or herb production – he adds.
Goal: education, unification, support
As the farmer argues, the Lublin Agricultural Association was established to activate farmers from the Lublin region, as well as rural communities, to cooperate and act together for the development of agriculture, to improve their qualifications, to act together from strictly production matters, through influencing regulations, the entire legislation.
The Lublin Agricultural Association is a grassroots initiative, aimed at creating bonds between farmers from different communes and counties, so that they can start talking to each other, cooperating, and later making joint decisions – says Jarosław Miściur in an interview with Farmer.pl. – The Association also aims to carry out educational activities. We understood that today the fight for agriculture, for what concerns us, also involves shaping the knowledge and awareness of society, from the youngest generations through the older ones, so that the consumer knows who produces this healthy Polish food, to what standards it is produced and so that he pays attention to the decisions he makes when buying – adds Miściur.
As the association members emphasize, their goal is to change the perception of agriculture and make consumers aware that high-quality production is primarily in their interest.
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Farmers gathered in the association hope to become a heard voice that will be taken into account by the Ministry of Agriculture when consulting draft regulations and laws. They emphasize that it is extremely important that the voice of farmers is really taken into account in the legislative process.
I hope that maybe we will not only be able to influence (laws and regulations – editor's note), but we will participate in their creation. We hope that we will be able to familiarize ourselves more closely with this topic of legislation and talks on the future agricultural policy – says Hubert Adamiec, member of LSR, farmer from Krzesimów.
We can't stand still!
In the opinion of members of the Lublin Agricultural Association, the worst thing farmers can do now is not to take any action and remain inactive.
The association is a chance to do something cool, to gather a group of people, present their demands, because the truth is that if we sit on our asses and just wait for what the government will come up with at a given time, or what the market will show us, this is not a good direction – says Mariusz Augustyniak, a member of LSR, a farmer from Świdnica district, in an interview with Farmer. – If we are to function well, to run these farms well, we have to take care of ourselves and where possible, knock on those doors, enter, ask, beg – he adds.
As Jarosław Miściur emphasizes, their association is a place for all farmers who want to be active, develop and change the reality surrounding them into a better one, more friendly to agriculture.
The Lublin region as an agricultural region is quite diverse. From small farms, through very large farms, strictly commercial. We, as the Lublin Agricultural Association, want to activate both the smaller and larger ones, because today, I believe that there should be a place for everyone on the agricultural production market – the farmer convinces in an interview with the Farmer editorial office.
One of the main goals of the association is to facilitate farmers' access to information, training, and therefore development.
We need to improve our skills, our knowledge and our qualifications, therefore as an association we will enable our members or agricultural communities to improve their qualifications through training, through contacts with various institutions, through contacts with Agricultural Advisory Centres, local governments, universities, we will try to go on various exchanges and trips – enumerates Miściur.
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The role of the ODR should be restored
It is worth noting that in its assumptions the association wants to focus on broad cooperation with Agricultural Advisory Centers. They talk about restoring their original role, putting them before private companies.
I think it is a very good direction to return to the old form of cooperation with Agricultural Advisory Centres. For a moment, commercial companies supplanted ODRs and came to our aid, one could say, and also spread this agrotechnics among farmers, but a commercial company always promotes its products, and cooperation with ODRs provides us with independent information and experience – says Mariusz Sławek, one of the members of the association, a farmer from Majdan Kozice Górne, in an interview with Farmer. – In addition, ODRs have great opportunities, access to various laboratories and operate throughout Poland, they have their own infrastructure and I think that this direction of cooperation would be very useful to renew and take advantage of, because after all, there is still a lot to do in terms of technology, but also information related to eco-schemes or the subsidy system. A lot is happening here and I think that ODR advisors would have a lot to do here, and we could benefit a lot from it – he convinces.
Another opportunity that farmers see in the establishment of the association is to establish broad cooperation in the area of exchange of experiences concerning, above all, good agricultural practices and cultivation techniques.
They say they hope that farmers will become an inspiration for each other, and the association will give them space to do so by connecting people from different parts of the province who would not normally have the chance to get to know each other and cooperate.
I am interested in our farmers achieving the lowest possible production costs and the highest profits – says Henryk Pawelec, a member of the association and a farmer from Chmiel, in an interview with Farmer. – We want to develop in terms of novelties, we want to produce Polish, healthy food and we want to promote some good product from the Lublin region. This is what our activities should focus on – he adds. – Of course, we will suggest some actions to politicians who, to put it mildly, have forgotten about agriculture, and their activities focus only on well-conducted election campaigns, and then they forget about us. However, the most important thing for me is to promote and disseminate good agricultural practices in plant production – he adds.
The need to establish cooperation between farmers is also pointed out by Mariusz Sławek, who is interested in agrotechnology.
I think that we can act on many levels – he convinces in a conversation with Farmer. – I would focus more on the level of agrotechnics and such exchange of experiences between farmers, between neighbors, when it comes to agrotechnical activities. Our Commune has been at a high level for a long time, but despite this, we would like to raise and exchange these experiences as much as possible, so that the level of this agriculture, and in general the quality of products, is the highest – he convinces.
The association has gathered several dozen people in a few weeks who want to work for the benefit of Polish agriculture and the local community. The first plans, projects and visions of action are emerging. From week to week there are more farmers interested in cooperation.
We cannot only protest, because in many cases it has gone too far – emphasizes Mariusz Augustyniak. – We have to work for certain things to change. We will not achieve this by standing still.
