Securing future harvests: the 2018 drought in Poland and a way forward

These events become increasingly more intense and cover significant areas of the country causing damages in crops. According to a recent publication in Nature Scientific Journal, Europe shows an increasing trend towards soil moisture droughts in a long term perspective. In this light, poor natural conditions in Poland regarding soils (majority of sandy soils, poor quality, low levels of soil matter content, acidification) and low water resources provide a challenge for the future. The combination of the aforementioned factors (weather conditions, poor soils and low water resources) make farming in Poland especially challenging.

In Poland, this year losses in Poland caused by drought exceed 3.6 billion PLN, more than 130 000 farms have been affected, and the total agriculture area where the drought occurred is estimated to approximately 3.5. M ha (data according to the Polish Ministry of Agriculture, September 5th ). The Polish Central Statistical Office (as of 30/07/2018) preliminary estimated a decrease in the harvest of basic cereals and cereal mix by 14%, in rape seed by 16 % and in field vegetables by 8 %. The drop in basic cereals and cereal mix is the largest since 2006. There is an expected increase in price of wheat by around 12 %, and of oilseed rape by 7.6 %,  by the end of November 2018.

Support measures of the Polish government

For many individual Polish farms, losses in yields are large and cause difficult economic situations for these farms. Therefore, the Polish government introduced support measures which include: drought payment per ha for farmers with losses higher than 70% of a particular crop (1000 PLN if the farmer was insured, 50% less without insurance), drought payment per ha for farmers with losses from 30-70 % of a particular crop (500 PLN if the farmer was insured, 50% less without insurance). Losses on grasslands and pastures due to drought are not compensated. Polish  farmers are also entailed for preferential credits. Farmers with losses under 30% are eligible to various de minimis aid, such as reductions in land lease rents of KOWR (National Centre for Agricultural Support) and remissions of agricultural taxes. As of 25 September 2018, it is reported that 38 000 farmers have already applied for governmental support, among which around 20 000 of the applications concerning losses of over 70% of crops.

Need for investments in soil quality

Poor natural conditions in Poland regarding soils (majority of sandy soils, poor quality, low levels of organic matter content, acidification) and low water resources provide a challenge for the future. To minimize effects of droughts Polish farmers should invest in improving the quality of soils. But building soil quality takes time, planning, and requires good nutrient management strategies. The starting point is to set a farm fertilization plan to guide manure/fertilizer decisions and to avoid further decline of soil quality. For this, soil analysis might be very helpful. Moreover, one of the solutions could be using natural fertilizers, like different types of manure and compost, that are a source of necessary nutrients for plants and enriches soils with organic matter. Furthermore, investments in water retention can be a response to mitigate negative effects both of droughts and floods. At this moment in Poland, projects in water retention are realized in most cases by the Polish provinces that can fund them from cohesion policy or national budget (National Fund for Environmental Protection).