Interested in moving our farm to Poland

Greetings, I do hope all are well. If anyone would be so kind as to offer some advice. I am a first generation American, my family immigrated from £ódź, Poland. They have all passed on now, so I am looking online for this advice. I am married with two young children (girls 4 and 2). I am completing my doctorate in Botany and my husband has his in Creative Writing and works for a local University. We have a successful farm where our products are wool, honey, eggs and varied vegetables and fruits. We also produce 90% of all our own food including meats. We would love to move our farm to Poland in the future and continue our lives closer to my heritage. I have done some reading online and it seems that such a move may be difficult but with perseverance and diligence it seems possible. Can anyone offer advice to make this venture successful? We will have a nest egg and savings to help us get started at the beginning of the move. My main questions pertain to the feasibility of such a venture, animal importation, and purchasing land. Also, would we be recommended to find jobs outside of the farm and if so how employable are we with our education and experience? Another thought of ours is to purchase a vacation home in Poland while keeping our farm here in America and easing ourselves in gradually but I am not sure if that would be a good idea or even possible with restrictions. Thank you for your advice and assistance, Sunshine.

You are going to find that the deck is strongly stacked against small farmers in Poland. The main thrust of agricultural policy in Poland is to drastically reduce the number of small farms and production of raw staples to meet EU goals. You will also have to deal with mountains of red tape, regulations and production quotas, both from the Polish government and from the EU. If you decide to produce high-value products for sale in one of the wealthier EU countries, which is almost certainly what you would have to do, the recipient country will be another source of red tape and regulation.

If you have inherited land already, you might be better off renting the land out or planting it with trees and collecting money from the government for doing so.

The EU is pretty harshly trying to reduce overproduction and inefficient small operations.

Importing livestock from the EU from the US is going to be a costly nightmare that you certainly don't want to deal with.

Also, neither you nor your husband have anything to offer that would be especially attractive or well paid on the highly competitive Polish job market. University jobs pay peanuts, and the best your husband could do is teach English or work in a call center, again for peanuts. Getting any sort of work at all is going to be difficult if you do not have Polish or other EU citizenship.

Sorry, but I cannot think of a single reason to abandon a successful small farm in the States to try to establish one in a hostile environment like Poland, or anywhere else in the EU, for that matter.

I also can't think of a good reason to buy a vacation house in Poland. It would almost certainly be cheaper and easier to rent.

If you are still determined to try this, you will need a) ABUNDANT capital to start the farm and support yourselves for the many years before you turn your first penny in profit on the very safe assumption that neither you nor your husband will be able to earn a substantial amount of money in Poland; b) a very good, knowledgeable and experienced agricultural consultant who can help you come up with a viable plan; and c) thorough knowledge of Polish and EU agricultural regulations.

Possibilities may exist in niche markets for products like medicinal herbs, organic fruits and vegetables, or high value products like artisan cheese, all for export to the richer EU countries, especially Germany. You would have to do abundant market research and networking to lay the groundwork, with a start date of at least three years from now.

And small farms have been flogged here in Australia too, pretty much world wide. I was at a customer 2 days ago which is a large farm and its 80% automated and the labour was made of Chinese and Indians. Although they spent money with me it was disgusting not a single Australian only the receptionist. The place was huge and they are all the same in the area. This is one of many examples why this country is declining. If you have a decent farm in USA I would only leave if you can retire and no longer farm.

Its funny how you know more about Poland while living in Chicago than those living in Poland. Yet again you pontificate about something you know FA about, in your case that seems to be Poland or the EU.

The problem with being a small farmer is the same everywhere (bigger is better, risk), but Poland does have some advantages, the low cost of land and EU subsidises. The "mountain of red tape" for the eu subsidy is a form, in return you get a annual check. The tax on my 2.8ha farm is about 200 pln per year.

Land costs are lower than the UK for instance, but asking prices can be high. Be aware than non Polish citizens cannot buy farm land without a special permit until 2016 (Poland got an exemption on EU entry which expires then). There is also a ban on foreigners buying next Polands external borders to prevent a stealth invasion...

You can start very small and buy small pieces of land to expand. Renting land is inexpensive.

You need to speak to local farmers to understand the many differences.

Hello, I'd like to sell my farm in Poland in Europe. Profile: milking; Area is about 750.000m2; Dairybuild from 2012y. 1100m2 for milk cows. Second dairybuild for calfs from 1989y. New house from 2008y. Sell as company (sp z o.o.) so also for People from another country. PRICE: 1.7mln euro. contact: rvrol.prezes@gmail

Can You help me to find some buyer?

@SunshineAndB
Hey Sunshine,
I wonder if you succeeded in moving your farm?
Radek

Certainly, and he has just driven a tractor to some crossroads and is protesting.