At the outset, farmers planned to block national roads. The greatest disruption is being felt by drivers in the West Pomeranian region, but this is only the beginning of the protest action.
Farmers will move on to block municipal, county, and provincial roads. “We oppose the Mercosur agreement, the agreement with Ukraine, and the government’s passivity toward the situation in agriculture. There is no state policy that would even offer a chance for improvement. We cannot sell our harvests, and on top of that we hear there may be a tax on self-harvesting. This is how our sector of the economy is being crushed,” explained Tomasz Obszański, chairman of NSZZ “Solidarność” Rolników Indywidualnych (NSZZ), in an interview with Gazeta Polska Codziennie.
Protesters warn that if their actions do not provoke a response from those in power, they will escalate.
Across Poland
“Every 15 minutes, farmers enter the pedestrian crossing for a quarter of an hour and block traffic,” reported Kamil Nieradka from West Pomerania on the TV Republika broadcast. He said the most common arguments concern the lack of protection for the agricultural market, low purchase prices for this year’s crops, and high production costs. Another major issue is the Mercosur agreement, as well as the influx of cheap food from Ukraine. Reporting from Lesser Poland, Arkadiusz Rogowski announced that the peak of the protest is expected at 4 p.m. Currently, Road 973 towards Kraków is partially blocked.
“Farmers are demanding, above all, government intervention. They stress that production costs are below the profitability threshold,” the reporter said. He added that currently they can rely only on commercial loans, as there is no government assistance available to them.
The protesters themselves appealed for ordinary citizens to join their initiative and to avoid foreign products that do not meet the strict standards applied to Polish food.
The protests planned for the coming month may intensify over time and take on a more confrontational form.