Poles will need huge milk imports when demand rises
But, as Polish wages rise, if the country’s consumers start to eat and drink as much dairy product as consumers in the EU-10, the country will have to import the equivalent of 3m tonnes of milk, or one third of their national quota, to meet the demand.
Either way, Polish dairy farmers are assured of strong demand for their milk.
Milk processing spokesman Waldemar Bors represents 173 dairy groups which purchase nearly 8m tonnes of milk from 350,000 suppliers.
In 2002, they paid 16.5c per litre for milk. In the past year they paid 19.5c, still well behind Ireland’s 27c and the EU-15 average of 28.65c.
By 2007, Mr Bors predicts a Polish milk price of 25c. He expects the number of Polish suppliers to fall from 350,000 now to 100,000 by 2014, and his 173 processing members to shrink to 60.
High milk prices is good news for dairy farming kingpins like Senator Zbiegniew Komorowski, a director of Bakoma, a big Polish food company, who also has grain and fish farm interests, while farming 4,000 hectares.
On his 560 cow, 1,200 ha dairy farm at Bielice, the Holstein Friesians average 8,000 litres (1,758 gallons) and the Polska breed 5,800 litres (1,274 gallons).
With three times per day milking, there are 28 workers to look after the farm’s 1,025 livestock units.
Meanwhile, youngsters like Tomas Duszak are on the up, availing of the special long-term loan at a 1.5% interest rate for new entrants aged under 45. (Others must pay 16% for credit).
Tomas and his father, Leszek, are in the top five suppliers to Hochland Wegrow.
A new €50,000 New Holland tractor in their yard is a sign of Polish dairy prosperity, as is the €150,000 new cow shed Tomas is building.
Cows on the 100 hectare farm average 7,200 litres (1,582 gallons); the calving interval is a little longer than one year). The farm is struggling to fill its milk quota of 530,000 litres (116,483 gallons).
Former state farms could become the super-farms of Polish dairying. Franciszek Nowak manages one of these huge farms, 230 km from Poznan, in western Poland. On land leased from the state, the 200 milkers average 6,800 litres (1,494 gallons) They still use old Russian farm machinery, “very good”, according to Franciszek, and the farm has its own 80-year-old mill to process its grain.
He says there won’t be big investment on this farm until the owners of the cow herd can buy the land back from the state.
In the meantime, it will continue with Poland’s typical high farm labour input, not a problem while wages stay around €6,000 per year.
Nearby, “private” farmers Henryk and Sofia Oljnioczak own half of the 50 ha they operate, the rest is leased. Her parents started with 6 ha in 1964. They inherited in 1994, and now keep 42 cows, and 120 cattle in total. They are the forefront of Poland’s fast moving dairy farmers, with an average milk yield of 8,900 l (1,956 gallons), at 4.3% fat and 3.3% protein. The TBC is 20,000, the SCC is 200,000.
