Agricultural news week 11

State agricultural land not for sale in Poland

17th of March, the Polish Parliament amended the law on suspending the sale of state owned agricultural land being at disposal of the Agricultural Property Stock of the State Treasury. The act extends the ban on the state sale of land until April 30, 2026.

The law suspending the sale of state-owned land entered into force on April 14, 2016. The most important goals of this legal proposal adopted in 2016 were: strengthening the protection of agricultural land against speculative purchase by domestic and foreign entities (legal and natural persons), stopping the negative trend in structural changes in agriculture, and improving the economic situation of Polish farmers. Protection of Polish agricultural land was one of the most important commitments made by the now governing party Law and Justice (PiS). This law prevented the speculative buyout by domestic and foreign entities after ending of a 12 year moratorium.

The state of land remaining in the Agricultural Property Stock of the State Treasury as of September 2020 amounted to a total of 1,3 million ha, of which the land under lease accounted for 1,06 million ha. In total, Poland has 14, 7 million ha of agricultural land.

Source: Portal spożywczy, Urząd Statystyczny

Trade of Polish eggs in 2020

The export of eggs in the first eleven months of 2020 amounted to 184,253 tonnes, which was a decrease by almost 11% compared to 2019. The value of eggs sold abroad decreased by 12%. The largest recipients of Polish eggs are the Netherlands and Germany, who buy almost 50% of the Polish exports. Hungary, the Czech Republic and Italy are the next big importers of eggs from Poland. In 2020, Singapore, Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia bought more eggs than a year earlier.

Source: portal hodowcy

Fighting unfair practices in food trade

In 2020, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) in Poland received 54 notifications on unfair practices using contractual advantage in food trade. In 36 cases, explanatory proceedings were initiated and some entities were fined – according to the Piotr Adamczewski, director of the UOKiK branch in Bydgoszcz. This delegation of UOKiK deals with all matters related to contractual advantage.

Very often information is reported anonymously. The "fear effect" is constantly evident. 2/3 of the notifications concerned relations between farmers and processors - mainly too long payment periods and exceeding their deadlines. Penalties had to be imposed on some entities. The maximum penalty is 3%. the company's annual turnover. In 2019 the Office made decisions regarding the following companies: Cykoria, Sud Zucker, Dohler, Real, Rauch, T.B. Fruit. Last year, the decisions concerned companies such as JMP-Biedronka and Appol. Proceedings were initiated regarding unfair practices applied by the companies such as: EuroCash, AgriPlus and Agrifirm, Pfeifer und Langen, SCA (Intermarche).

Referring to the plans for 2021, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection will deal with the the discount issues. Last year the Office checked companies trading in agri-food products in terms of applying discounts. It turns out that the problem is very big, there are many discounts, some networks use even several dozen of them. They can often raise doubts related to honesty, said the head of the Bydgoszcz branch of UOKiK. In the second half of 2021 UOKiK intends to deal with the problem of marketing fees applied by retail chains and food processing – i.e. proceedings concerning the limitation of contract fattening, restrictions in the sale of seeds.

Source: agropolska.pl

First ASF outbreak 2021

On March 18, the Chief Veterinary Inspectorate confirmed the first outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) of 2021 on a pig farm, based on lab tests received on March 17. The ASF outbreak no. 2021/1 was designated on a farm where 15 938 pigs were kept, located in Niedźwiady, Świebodzin Commune, Świebodzin County, Lubuskie Province, i.e. in the area listed in Part II of the Annex to Commission Implementing Decision No 2014/709 on animal health control measures with regard to African swine fever in certain Member States and repealing Implementing Decision 2014/178 / EU (area where the disease is present in wild boar).

source: wetgiv.gov.pl

• In 2020, the first outbreak of ASF on a farm occured on March 23 and reached a total number of 103 outbreaks, an unfortunate record.
• Read more here about the Polish pig market 
• or read here an overview of the ASF situation in 2020 in Poland