No longer a silo. Agriculture in Poland must burst its bubble – because it is gone

Not only is it difficult for an ordinary person to know where binding decisions are actually made, because they rarely concern only one area. Officials operate in a similar reality. The Polish administration at the highest level is preparing to burst the bubble in which it is accustomed to operate. Because there is no other way.

The fight for a new decision-making reality in Poland will start with agriculture, which, like many other industries, is stuck in silos, i.e. in industry isolation. Poles know this problem well from their own workplaces – in practice, it involves a lack of information exchange, duplication of work, shifting responsibility to others, a decline in innovation and unhealthy “us versus them” competition. At the end there are wrong decisions, poor results and frustration that so little was achieved – the couple went to waste.

Lower the silo. Joint development of positions is the new reality

For years, Poland has been functioning not only as a sovereign country, but also as a member state of the European Union. However, instead of pleasant cooperation, we are increasingly dealing with power politics, protectionism, i.e. protection of domestic production, and huge competition – both Polish and EU.

– We need to move away from the logic as quickly as possible that each ministry is responsible only for its own part of the forest – prof. explained to farmers the “Whole of Government Approach”. Kamil Zajączkowski, director of the European Center of the University of Warsaw, during the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development.

Farming is no longer just farming. The areas for which the Ministry of Agriculture is responsible affect environmental protection, public health, food security, international trade, social policy, defense and European funds. These are the competences of other ministries.

Responsibility is increasingly dispersed. – In today’s world, it is impossible to pursue purely agricultural interests. Agreements concluded both at national and European level have many elements, not necessarily agricultural ones. Therefore, a new, holistic approach is needed, says Kamil Zajączkowski. And close cooperation in developing the strategy and positions of other ministries: finance, foreign affairs, national defense and climate. Because the weakest loses and doesn’t know when it happens.

This is the last moment to prepare well for the first day after the ceasefire or the end of the war in Ukraine. According to prof. Zajączkowski’s challenge will be the demobilization of Ukrainian soldiers, the demand for cash, and the issue of artificial fertilizers. Has Poland already developed its strategies? NO.

The farmer wants knowledge and strategy. Because a lot can be predicted

What does inter-ministerial cooperation look like today? Miserably. Farmers found this out in 2022, when the government opened the borders to food from Ukraine without asking farmers for their opinion. Because it seemed to be of little importance. Until there were large protests in 2024 at the border in Medyka, which were easy to predict.

– In many industries we feel like losers. Farmers do not know which direction the Polish economy is heading today. How can we decide about the future under such conditions? – asks Wiktor Szmulewicz, president of the National Council of Agricultural Chambers, who believes that farmers have been left to their own devices: without strategic projects and without solutions.

– Farmers are hostages to success – says Senator Ryszard Bober, chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development – ​​They have doubled production, which is now 30 percent must be exported. Without cooperation with diplomacy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the chances are much smaller, because China is dealing the cards today.

A parody of cooperation. All that matters is who is who

One of the few agricultural successes of Poles is tobacco cultivation. Monika Przeworska, director of the Institute of Agricultural Economy – the first agricultural think tank in Poland, cited the latest data: 3.5 thousand. Polish farms grow tobacco, occupying 9 thousand hectares, they obtain 11-17 thousand tons of raw material – that is 18%. European production.

Tobacco provides PLN 42 billion in budget revenues annually, so it is the jewel in the crown – or at least it should be. Three ministries are interested in it: the Ministry of Agriculture, Health and Finance. – Agriculture supports tobacco cultivation, the Ministry of Health is closing down places where tobacco can be sold, and the Ministry of Finance is rapidly increasing the excise tax on tobacco products – Monika Przeworska lists the actions of individual ministries.

What is the effect of these inter-ministerial squabbles and different visions? Lower budget revenues (by approximately PLN 5 billion in 2025) and the development of the gray zone. – So are we developing or closing this tobacco activity in Poland? – asks the director of the Institute of Agricultural Economy, because in the light of such decisions the matter is not clear. And at the European level it is even more difficult – the lack of a clear strategy will not benefit Polish tobacco crops.

Ukraine has learned this inter-ministerial lesson, which results in a strong agricultural strategy, very well: they are doubling their meat production and want to flood the EU with oil processed at home. Poland still has neither a plan nor a strategy on how to respond to it.