Poland was for a long time an agricultural country. Thanks to its advantageous topography and to its moderated climate, agricultural surface usable corresponds to 18,4 million hectares, that is nearly 60 % of the total surface of the country. Moreover, the forests occupy more than 8,9 million hectares, so the wood is a significant resource. More than 30 % of the population lives in rural medium and work of the ground, that is the principal occupation of approximately 20% of the Poles. However, the young people tend to leave the exploitations to seek employment in the cities.

80 % of the exploitations belong to private agents. They are often the same owners as under the communism, contrary to what occurred in the other countries of the Eastern bloc, the fields of less than fifty hectares escaped to the forced collectivization. In 2003, the average size of the exploitations was five hectares, that is fifty times less than in Canada. This very limited size prevents the economies of scale and constitutes one of the reasons of the weak competitiveness of the Polish agriculture on an international scale. The large majority of the exploitations dont have precise production, cumulating various cultures and breedings, using of more then the third of the productions for the self-sufficiency. Since the years 1990 and the economic liberalization, the request for the agricultural produce decreased, which drew the prices downwards. Confronted to the fall of incomes, Polish farmers are not able to improve the productivity of their exploitation, which is in general several times lower than the average of the community . At least a half of the two million exploitations are brought to disappear in the years to come, the others have to be radically modernized .

The breeding and the dairy products constitute two thirds of the agricultural production, the other third is represented by the cultures. Poland is a large producer of cereals and in particular of corn and rye (third world producer in best years), fodder and potatoes (also third world producer in best years) sugar beet.

The sector of the breeding is dominated by the pigs and the cattle, and less extent by the poultry and the sheep. Dairy production rise each year with more than ten billion liters. The horticulture produces a varied range of the fresh vegetables and processed such as the cutters, the juice of apple, cabbages, carrots and currants.

The difficulties of the Polish industry > >