A farmer from Podlasie is devastated by the situation in the industry. “We are financially exhausted”
Dariusz Ciochanowski, a farmer from Podlasie, told the Tygodnik Poradnik Rolniczy portal about the current situation of his industry. He cited, among others: examples of prices of agricultural produce on the market, which are growing too slowly in relation to the rapidly increasing production costs.
“The price of wheat increased by PLN 20, and saltpetre by PLN 500. So, how are we supposed to function?” – wonders the farmer. In addition, there are droughts, damage caused by animals and birds, and African swine fever (ASF), which has decimated pigs in this region in recent years.
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Difficult situation in Podlasie. Farmers are tightening their belts
According to Dariusz Ciochanowski, many hosts are already financially exhausted. The farmer reminds that the last two years were disastrous for this industry – in 2024, drought destroyed the crops, and in 2025, frosts and subsequent dry months took their toll.
However, this is not the only problem. The interlocutor of the agricultural portal also points to the lack of appropriate infrastructure in the region, including: retention. In his opinion, retention installations could retain water from melting snow in fields and irrigate crops.
Due to rising production costs, many farmers are limiting their activities. The prices of fertilizers, fuel and seeds have increased dramatically. Importers, in turn, raise prices only minimally, as a result of which farmers do not earn adequately to the costs. Some people even give up buying fertilizers because they have become too expensive. Even so, they are unable to break even.
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Dariusz Ciochanowski also draws attention to ASF, which destroys agriculture and livestock farming in Podlasie. He mentions mass liquidation of farms, reduction of local meat production and deepening dependence on exports. As he emphasizes, the animal disease mainly affected the Moniecki district, where in 2015 there were over 1,700 herds of pigs, and today there are only about 100 of them. “My farm was closed down in 2017, and now the building, all the infrastructure, everything is empty, everything is unused,” complains a farmer from Podlasie.
