The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development was held in the Senate of the Republic of Poland with the participation of the Minister of Agriculture, Czesław Siekierski, representatives of the ministry, public institutions, agricultural unions and MPs and senators. As Ryszard Bober, chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, pointed out, the Polish presidency of the EU Council is approaching and there is a fear that due to many important topics, such as supporting Europe's security and defense, agriculture and support for its development will be pushed into the background.
Everyone would like Poland to indicate a strong and clear position on the future Common Agricultural Policy. And above all, the planned CAP after 2027 should be consulted and verified with the farming community. There were many voices in the Senate chamber about the insufficient conduct of public consultations when designing the current National Strategic Plan.
However, this is now about to change and, as Czesław Siekierski emphasized, from the very beginning of his term in office he has been in dialogue with the agricultural community and has been listening to their voices.
The priority is to further review the assumptions of the Green Deal
The minister emphasized that, looking back at the past years, the changes in the CAP are evolutionary, but the latest ones were quite strong when it comes to the environment and climate. However, he clearly emphasized that the Green Deal was not sufficiently consulted with farmers:
The Green Deal was not consulted with the environment, even though KRIR submitted 350 amendments, and only some were taken into account. (…) We want a continuation of the review of the Green Deal and a serious discussion on the CAP, being aware of the conditions in the EU, i.e. security issues, shifting certain funds to the development of the defense industry, or matters related to the reconstruction and transformation of energy systems.
Maintaining the competitiveness of EU agriculture
The European Union is bound by many trade agreements within the World Trade Organization. The most famous is the recently discussed agreement with Mercosur, which introduces shipments of beef and poultry quotas to the EU. This creates huge competition for European agriculture, because due to the requirements and standards of production in Europe, the availability of means of production, the potential of the land and the plant protection products used, the economic calculation of such production is completely different than in Europe. So how to compete with such producers, how to beat the quality and higher price of goods? When price is still an important factor determining purchasing choices? How can we ensure that these high production standards in the EU are implemented globally? The answer is not simple, but as the minister indicated, Poland will talk about these issues during its presidency.
As the minister pointed out, this is important to us because Poland is a country with agri-food production.
Opening the EU market to trade and goods from various regions of the world. We produce agricultural raw materials, we do not sell technology, and here we lost in the EU because it was opening itself to the inflow of goods that did not meet EU requirements. This is where the competition problem comes in. To what extent should this be open to goods from outside the EU and what requirements, method and production conditions should they meet? To what extent will the EU be able to impose these requirements externally – said the minister.
Ukraine practically in the EU – what will we do next?
In addition, there is the liberalization of trade with Ukraine, which is a fact from 2022. This extends to the flow of capital and people, which is usually extensively negotiated and subject to transition periods before any country joins the EU.
The minister pointed to the latest ATM, which, although still unsatisfactory, allows the so-called emergency brakes, and the inflow for goods such as oats, sugar and eggs has already been limited. – We have Mercosur at our side. Trade liberalization is basically a situation where Ukraine is practically in the EU, there are no quotas, no customs duties. Only the latest ATM 2024/25 introduced the first rigors and emergency brakes, meaning that imports are blocked when quotas are exceeded. This shows the direction of change. There will be regulations that will have to limit the inflow of goods from Ukraine. The EU must also go further. It must introduce regulations so that excess Ukrainian production is transferred to those areas of the world that need this food. When it comes to Ukraine, we need to keep an eye on it in various dimensions. EU agriculture has its own specificity and we must defend it. Just like we defend the specificity of our agriculture here in Poland.
Climate will still be important and is the subsidy function running out?
The minister emphasized that we will not escape the approach aimed at climate and environmental protection. – We have to look at what will happen. There will be climate challenges and expectations for methane emissions. These will be processes that we cannot stop, but we want to accept them rationally and voluntarily. The CAP will be the next stage, but we will not change them fundamentally. The subsidy function is exhausting – both yes and no. For some farms they are still important. There must be an element of continuity and change. And the question is what should we program, because the structure of farms has changed. Larger commercial ones mainly compete with European agriculture, but smaller agriculture, which performs a social function, must also have a chance to change.
Social side: imports from outside the EU are often climate hypocrisy
Monika Przeworska from the Institute of Agricultural Economy pointed to the import of emissions to Europe, which is or will be the result of concluded trade agreements. She indicated that during the Polish Presidency, we should focus on protecting the Community agri-food market. We have the largest free trade regime. 42 agreements with 72 other countries. When there are negotiations, the interests of farmers are ignored, and if not, only large farms receive the benefits. This is climate hypocrisy, there are many sanctions, we import agri-food products that are not even manufactured to this quality. They are produced within other systems. We need to review the contracts and what is on the table. Incorporate EU market protectionism to some extent, Przeworska explained.
You have to take care of animal husbandry
As Emil Miezaj from NSZZ RI Solidarność from the province pointed out. West Pomeranian Voivodeship – For agriculture to do well, we must support breeding. Without breeding we will not exist. We said with one voice what was happening in Europe, we need protection for breeding, not only subsidies, but facilitations to make it future-proof. We will soon have a problem with successors. The number of farms covers what is really happening. I am the last generation who will breed in my family. There is no one to pass it on to. We are aging at a dizzying pace. Additionally, it is accompanied by the possibility of so-called raids. ecological environments. Over the years, we have done nothing to improve this breeding.
The gold standard in the EU
Sylwia Szymańczak from OOPR pointed out that the discussion in the context of the Polish presidency should also direct thinking in the EU to new paths.
If we have to reduce the amount of active substances in agriculture and we have to do it equally across Europe, this is not right. Let's strive for the gold standard in the EU, in every country. We should focus on how to solve the problems if we are to reach this gold standard, she emphasized.
She also recalled the issue of tightening standards regarding the level of mycotoxins in grain and corn.
On July 1, the regulations changed to reduce the amount of DON in grain and corn. Will the same standards apply to grain from Ukraine under quotas? We don't have laboratories to test it. The quotas amount to 1.5 million tons of corn, previously it was 1,500 tons of corn. We should talk at the European level to create specialized laboratories so that imported goods meet the norms and standards that apply in our country. If Ukraine already has access to our market, in this pre-accession period, as a Polish farmer and as a consumer, I would expect the products that enter us to meet EU requirements and standards to protect the consumer. Laboratories are needed on the external border, she emphasized.
Generation exchange, breeding support
Deputy Minister Adam Nowak emphasized that the Presidency will be an opportunity to present our vision of the CAP after 2027 in the context of maintaining food security, which is not so obvious today in many aspects.
– Generational replacement and continuation on farms are important, because without it food security will be undermined. Today, in all recruitment processes, the criteria promoting access to activities are addressed to young farmers. It is necessary to maintain a balance between animal and plant production. The concentration of farms in the EU and also in Poland resulted in farmers giving up animal production. Poland, as a producer of feed grain and not consumption grain, has a problem. Following the guidelines of Minister Siekierski, in the KPO we want to support farmers who want or want to return to animal production, in the context of building the potential for the production of weaned piglets. Reduction of production in Denmark, which will also cause problems, due to the lack of piglets. We will boil with feed grains. Energy security in biogas plants should also be ensured. We are at the bottom here in the EU. And we should treat them as an additional source of income, which helps stabilize the situation on farms. We also know that wherever there was interest in biogas plants, it was almost always accompanied by protests.