Farmers have repeatedly blocked Poland’s eastern border over the past year in protest against food imports such as grain from the east, including from Ukraine.

Tusk told reporters in the Baltic Sea port of Gdansk, in the north of Poland, that the new terminal there will be at the disposal of the Polish state.

“It will not only perform commercial functions, but will be a safety device in the hands of the Polish state as part of protecting Polish interests and Polish farmers,” Tusk said.

Poland’s Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Arkadiusz Marchewka said that the entire investment would cost 500 million zloty (US$122.4 million).

The terminal’s trans-shipment capacity in 2026 will be and initial two million tonnes, which will then be increased to three million tonnes, Marchewka added.

The post Poland to build new grain terminal in Gdansk to bolster food security appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

A neighbour of Ukraine, Poland has become a hotspot for protests that sprang up across Europe as farmers railed against cheap imports from the war-torn country, as well as restrictions placed on them by the EU’s “Green Deal” to tackle climate change.

“If we, as farmers, manage to influence the election results … then I think it will be a good sign for both the farmers as well as the society and the governments, that people take things in their own hands and have power to change some things,” Kulecki said.

However, he is not optimistic that the elections will bring radical change and believes farmers will need to keep protesting.

“We are not (protesting) for some subsidies, some allowances, but for our problems to be solved with some systemic solutions,” he said.

Kulecki said that although farmers do not have a party that specifically represents their interests, there are several farmers who run for the European Parliament – mostly belonging to the Confederation party, which according to the fastest polls could win 13 per cent of the votes in Poland.

To appease farmers, the EU has loosened environmental regulations on fallow land.

But the overall Green Deal vision for helping tackle climate change remains intact, supported by more than two dozen laws passed over the last five years to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause it.

Green deal

While Polish farmers point to the problems EU policies cause for them, the government is keen to stress the benefits two decades of membership have brought the country.

“In the 20 years of our presence in the EU, the value of our agricultural exports has increased tenfold,” said Poland’s agriculture minister Czeslaw Siekierski.

According to the Polish Academy of Sciences, the main transformative factor has been the inflow of funds to agriculture.

The Institute of Public Finance of Poland has counted that from the beginning of integration into the EU until 2023, Polish agriculture received 67.1 billion euros (C$99.4 billion).

Income per full-time farmer has increased more than 2.5 times since 2004, according to Central Statistical Office of Poland.

But Kulecki argues that although farmers see the pool of money growing, funds are being spent on things that do not help agricultural production.

“It is harder and harder to get any subsidies because first, you need to meet all the standards, which are exorbitant, and there are more and more of them added each year,” said Kulecki.

He also noted that although new eco-schemes are beneficial for encouraging changes in sowing structures to receive higher subsidies, they treat all farmers the same despite differences in soil.

To address farmers’ demands for reducing bureaucracy, the European Parliament exempted small farmers from compliance controls.

“In the case of Polish agriculture, when most farms are below 10 hectares, around a fourth of farms will be excluded from these control restrictions of the European Green Deal,” said Slawomir Kalinowski, a professor at the Institute of Rural Development and Agriculture of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

However farmers says the amendments are not enough as the Green Deal needs real changes.

“They should simply let us do things our way,” Kulecki said, referring to the EU. “The farms are multi-generational, family ones. If we hadn’t known how to run a farm, if we had neglected the soil, I wouldn’t be here today.”

—Reporting for Reuters by Malgorzata Wojtunik, Kuba Stezycki, Barbara Erling and Kacper Pempel

The post Polish farmers demand less interference from EU ahead of vote appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

Farmers in Poland and elsewhere in the bloc have been protesting in recent months against cheap food imports from Ukraine and restrictions placed on them by the EU’s Green Deal to tackle climate change.

A group of up to 14 farmers occupied Poland’s parliament on Thursday and on Monday the five who remained there said they would not eat until they secured a meeting with Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

“We are striking above all against the policies of the European Union … and today we are starting our hunger strike,” farmer Jaroslaw Zareba, 37, said.

Farmers have already won concessions from the EU over the Green Deal and from the Polish government, which said it would pay 2.1 billion zlotys (C$723 million) in subsidies to compensate them for low grain prices, but many say it is not enough.

“The Green Deal … affects our agriculture very, very much,” Zareba said. “There are a lot of regulations that affect … our profitability and the price of our products.”

Deputy Agriculture Minister Michal Kolodziejczak said the protesters in parliament did not represent the majority of farmers, who he said had stopped protesting due to the measures implemented to help them.

“I don’t recommend that the prime minister meets with the representatives of what is more political chutzpah and not representatives of farmers,” he told state broadcaster Polskie Radio 24.

Last month farmers decided to unblock border crossings with Ukraine, lifting a blockade that had dragged on for months, soured bilateral relations and buffeted Ukraine’s trade.

—Reporting for Reuters by Kuba Stezycki and Alan Charlish

The post Polish farmers begin hunger strike over EU Green Deal appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

Farmers were joined by representatives of other branches of the Solidarity trade union, which organized the protest, such as miners and workers from the automotive sector.

Farmers in Poland and elsewhere in the bloc have been protesting in recent months against cheap food imports from Ukraine and restrictions placed on them by the EU’s Green Deal to tackle climate change.

In a sea of red and white Polish flags and Solidarity banners, the protesters, many wearing yellow high-visibility vests, brandished placards with slogans like “Down with the Green Deal, Down with the European Union” and “Green Poison”.

“The only thing it’s good for is throwing in the bin,” said retired farmer Wieslaw Czerwinski from Grojec, in central Poland, when asked about the Green Deal.

“It raises the costs of production, raises costs every day, costs of heating, costs of energy.”

The protesters were joined by politicians from the previous nationalist government, who accuse Donald Tusk’s pro-European administration of yielding to Brussels at the expense of regular Poles.

Tusk’s government dismisses such claims and says that their predecessors damaged Poland’s relations with Western allies while failing to take action to help sectors such as agriculture.

Farmers have already won concessions from the EU and the Polish government, which said it would pay 2.1 billion zlotys (C$719 million) in subsidies to compensate farmers for low grain prices, but they say it is not enough.

However, last month they decided to unblock border crossings with Ukraine, lifting a blockade that had dragged on for months, soured bilateral relations and buffeted Ukraine’s trade.

—Reporting for Reuters by Kuba Stezycki, Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Alan Charlish

The post Polish farmers march against ‘green poison’ EU climate change rules appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

Polish truckers, later joined by farmers, have blocked border crossings with Ukraine since late autumn last year amid concerns over unfair competition and cheap grain.

They have cited government inaction over a loss of business to foreign competitors since Russia’s war on Ukraine, with truckers from Ukraine exempt from seeking permits to cross the Polish border.

Ukraine’s border guard spokesman said Polish farmers had ended the blockade at the Rava-Ruska crossing on Monday morning.

“Fortunately, we have all directions on the border with Poland unblocked,” said Andriy Demchenko, the border official, adding that trucks were crossing in both directions.

Polish border guard spokesman Andrzej Juzwiak told Reuters that all the crossings were working “without hindrance”.

The Polish farm ministry said late on Sunday that farmers had announced a suspension following talks with Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Siekierski.

Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solsky hailed “constructive work” by Poland, saying negotiations with Warsaw and industry associations had not been easy but that “the main thing is that we have a result”.

Warsaw protest to go ahead

It was not clear if the suspension would hold.

Ukrainian Ambassador to Poland Vasyl Zvarych said he believed the blockades were “a thing of the past”.

But Polish news agency PAP cited Roman Kondrow, the leader of Podkarpacka Oszukana Wies, a local farmers’ organization in the region bordering Ukraine, as saying that protests could be resumed if necessary.

Adrian Wawrzyniak, a spokesperson for the Solidarity farmers’ union, told Reuters the farmers were continuing talks with the government and still planned a protest in Warsaw on May 10.

Trucks from Ukraine transporting grain products, the central issue that has angered Polish protesters, will still face some restrictions, the Ukrainian Border Service said.

“At the same time, trucks transporting grain crops will not be allowed to enter Poland. This type of cargo can only travel through Poland in transit mode,” the service said.

In an attempt to address the protesters’ demands, Poland decided earlier this month to pay 2.1 billion zlotys (C$710.2 million) in subsidies to farmers to compensate them for low grain prices.

The protests drew sharp criticism from Ukrainian decision makers as the tensions on the border escalated in the winter.

Warsaw and Kyiv have been engaged in talks at different levels to try to find a solution, with Ukraine calling upon the European Union to intervene. Kyiv said its agricultural exports through eastern Europe have not damaged EU markets.

In March, Ukraine and Poland hailed progress on agricultural import talks but the deal remained elusive as the countries tried to close the gap between their positions on economic and security interests.

—Reporting for Reuters by Anastasiia Malenko, Yuliia Dysa, Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk

The post Polish protesters suspend months-long blockade of Ukraine border appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

EU decision-makers have wrangled for weeks on limits to tariff-free access for Ukrainian produce as farmers protested about cheap imports, with some in Poland blocking the border with Ukraine and spilling Ukrainian grain across rail tracks.

EU lawmakers and Belgium, which holds the six-month rotating EU presidency, said they had reached an deal on the curbs. This will still require approval from other EU members and the European Parliament.

The European Commission proposed in January extending tariff-free access until June 2025, but with a so-called emergency brake for poultry, eggs and sugar to apply tariffs if imports exceeded the average of 2022 and 2023 levels.

Since then, oats, maize, groats and honey have been added, with the average also to be calculated including the second half of 2021. In that year, which was before Russia invaded Ukraine, imports were far lower because tariffs applied.

EU lawmakers and Belgium agreed on that formula on Monday, an EU diplomat said.

—Reporting for Reuters by Philip Blenkinsop

The post EU provisionally agrees to Ukraine farm import curbs appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

The agreement now goes to the European Parliament, where diplomats expect a push to add more restrictions, as the EU wrangles over how to continue with exemptions granted in 2022 to help Ukraine’s economy following Russia’s invasion.

Some EU farming groups and countries such as France and Poland had argued the measures needed to be tightened to avoid making EU agricultural products uncompetitive. Ukraine and others argue the imports have little effect on EU markets.

An EU diplomat said the new deal – which would run until June 2025 – was similar to a provisional agreement struck last week but changed the reference period used to determine when tariffs on some products would be applied.

The original deal stipulated that tariffs would kick in on poultry, eggs, sugar, oats, maize, groats and honey if imports exceeded the average levels of 2022 and 2023.

The compromise expands the reference period to include the second half of 2021, the diplomat said. That lowers the ceiling for the application of tariffs.

Belgium, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said the agreement secured “a balanced approach between support for Ukraine and protection of EU agricultural markets”.

It is estimated to cost Ukraine about 330 million euros (C$484.5 million) in annual revenue – although the continued overall suspension of tariffs is worth much more to Kyiv.

No products added

No products were added to the list of those potentially subject to tariffs despite pressure from some countries, the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the confidential discussions.

Earlier this week, both France and Hungary said wheat should be subject to tariffs if imports rose above average levels.

The issue of food imports has sparked tensions between Ukraine and Poland, an otherwise staunch supporter of Kyiv.

Polish Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Siekierski was due to meet his Ukrainian counterpart, Mykola Solsky, on Wednesday afternoon, with the governments of the countries due to convene on Thursday.

Siekierski said that Ukraine wanted to maintain a liberal approach to trade while Poland thought that things like humanitarian and military aid should be treated separately from food exports to protect farmers’ livelihoods in central and eastern Europe.

Polish farmers say that much of the Ukrainian grain that is supposed to transit through Poland to other countries ends up in the domestic market instead.

Ukraine says farmers’ protests, which have included blockades of the border and the spilling of Ukrainian grain across rail tracks, are harming its war effort against Russia and its economy. It also says that only a small portion of the grain it exports transits through Poland.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz in Warsaw, Kate Abnett and Nette Noestlinger in Brussels, Luiza Ilie in Bucharest; editing by Sharon Singleton, Mark Heinrich and Nick Macfie, Kirsten Donovan)

The post EU envoys strike new deal on Ukraine food imports appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

EU members are debating how to grant Ukraine a further year-long extension of tariff-free access to its markets while also placating farmers who have protested for months against EU environmental rules and cheap imports.

French Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau told reporters before a meeting with EU counterparts in Brussels that destabilized markets could erode public support for Kyiv, which would neither be in the interests of the EU nor of Ukrainians.

Nearby, farmers jammed the EU district with about 250 tractors, including a main road into Brussels and the square in front of the European Parliament. A number dropped sugar beets, hay and wooden pallets beside a police barricade.

The European Commission has proposed suspending duties on Ukrainian farm produce for a further year to June 2025, with a new “emergency brake” for poultry, eggs and sugar leading to tariffs if imports exceed the average levels of 2022 and 2023.

Oats, maize, groats and honey have since been added to the list.

Fesneau said wheat should also be included and insisted that the brake threshold should be the average of 2021-2023. This would include the year before Russia’s invasion, when Ukrainian exports to the EU were curbed by tariffs and quotas.

Hungarian minister Istvan Nagy said Budapest would only back an extension for Ukraine with limits on wheat.

David Clarinval, the agriculture minister of Belgium, which holds the six-month rotating EU presidency, said he expected a solution to be found in the coming days, without detailing what such a solution would entail.

—Additional reporting for Reuters by Kate Abnett

The post France leads push for greater Ukraine import curbs as farmers protest appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

Placards depicted a farmer swinging from a gallows next to wind farms and an EU-emblazoned executioner with the words: “Green Deal equals death of Polish agriculture”, referring to the bloc’s plan to tackle climate change.

Farmers in Poland and elsewhere in the bloc have been protesting in recent months to demand the re-imposition of customs duties on agricultural imports from Ukraine that were waived after Russia’s invasion in 2022.

They say Ukraine’s farmers are flooding Europe with cheap imports that leave them unable to compete.

With hundreds of protests planned, Reuters footage from Zakret, east of Warsaw, showed farmers blocking ways into the capital. Tractors lined roads mounted with Polish flags while red flares were set off.

“We demand the withdrawal of the ‘Green Deal’ as a whole, we demand the withdrawal of the ‘Fit for 55’ (EU climate plan), the limits on all emissions, all the bans and orders,” said protest organizer Lukasz Komorowski, speaking to fellow rallying farmers at the Zakret blockade.

Quota controversy

On Wednesday, the EU reached provisional agreement to extend Ukrainian food producers’ tariff-free access to its markets until June 2025 – albeit with new limits on grain imports.

Polish protest leaders said they were not happy with the latest deal as it included the last few years as a reference for import limits. They want quotas based on figures from well before the war in Ukraine began, when imports were much lower.

“We demand quotas and that they be calculated for the period from 2000, and not as Ukraine wants 2022-2023, because that was when the (import) levels were the highest. This does not fully satisfy us, because it is not a good solution,” Slawomir Izdebski, leader of the OPZZ farmers’ union, told Reuters.

Polish police said they knew of more than 580 protests planned for Wednesday, with an estimated participation of 70,000 people.

Last Friday, the European Commission also offered concessions to farmers as it proposed an easing of rules on leaving land fallow or rotating crops.

Farmers in the Czech Republic held similar protests.

They drove an estimated 1,600 tractors and other agricultural machinery onto the streets, Barbora Pankova, a spokesperson for the Czech Agrarian Chamber, told Czech Television.

German tax proposal

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner wants to help farmers by introducing income smoothing to minimize their taxes, he said in Berlin on Wednesday, after protests over a cut to agricultural diesel subsidies.

“Income smoothing means that instead of using one financial year for tax purposes, several years are used,” Lindner said at a press conference. This would allow farmers to distribute earnings between different years to reduce the tax burden.

Lindner justified the idea arguing that agricultural yields fluctuate greatly and are therefore difficult to plan.

“I want to integrate income smoothing into the 2024 Annual Tax Act,” Lindner said.

German farmers took to the streets in tractors in December in protest at the cut to diesel subsidies as part of a government package of austerity measures.

Germany’s Bundesrat is set to approve the Growth Opportunities Act, a package offering tax relief amounting to 3.2 billion euros (C$4.71 billion) for small and medium-sized companies, on Friday.

The German government’s Growth Opportunities Act, which aims to attract new investment amid weak foreign demand and high interest rates, passed the lower house of parliament in November but then faced opposition in the Bundesrat, the legislative body that represents the 16 German states at the federal level.

The conservatives of the CDU/CSU made approval conditional on the government reversing its decision on agricultural diesel.

As the government said this was not an option, it is making other concessions to the agricultural sector, such as income smoothing.

“We are in good talks,” said Lindner, referring to the farmers’ representatives.

–Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Pawel Florkiewicz, Alan Charlish, Aleksandra Szmigiel, Michael Kahn, Christian Kraemer and Maria Martinez.

The post Polish farmers intensify protests against ‘executioner’ EU appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

Polish farmers have been among those that have staged weeks of protest across the European Union, to press a series of demands, including removing restrictions placed on them by the EU’s Green Deal plan to tackle climate change as they say they cannot afford them.

Poland’s farmers have a particular grievance because of increased competition from Ukraine’s farmers, who they say have flooded the EU with cheap imports that leave them unable to compete.

“I planned this meeting with you in such a way that it was to be held simultaneously with the publication… of the European Commission’s proposal regarding changes to the act in the Common Agricultural Policy, but this publication will be delayed,” EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski told reporters on the visit to his native Poland.

He said publication had been held up by a dispute over the timing of some changes, but that there should be an announcement in a matter of hours rather than days.

Wojciechowski has faced calls to quit from all sides of the political spectrum in Poland, with farmers blaming him for the policies they oppose.

The European Commission is especially anxious to quell opposition from farmers ahead of European Parliament elections in June in which the far right, for whom farmers represent a growing constituency, is seen making gains.

Wojciechowski said the proposals would replace an obligation to rotate crops for farms between 10 and 30 hectares (24.7 and 74.1 acres) with a different scheme. Member states would also be able to exclude farms of up to 10 hectares from environmental inspections.

The post EU plan to ease farmers’ fallow land requirement stalls appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.