The 4th meeting of the COST Action Urban Agriculture Europe took place in April, in Warsaw. The agrarian sector in Poland has long since been of fundamental importance to the national economy. The degree of self sufficiency for main products is still close to 90-100% and since the UE accession, agriculture has experienced considerable transformations.
«Official Polish figures for last year [2013] put agri-food exports at $27 billion, an increase of 11.5% compared with the previous year. Growth for this year will be 10%, according to government estimates. Last year Poland only imported around $19 billion in agri-food produce, and thus posted a healthy trade balance of $7.8 billion. Poland even surpassed China as the world’s biggest exporter of apples in 2013. » (The Economist, 2014)
This «golden age of agriculture» does not prevent urban pressure on agricultural land in periurban areas like the Metropolitan Area of Warsaw. «Since 1992 at least 27 thousand hectares of the best agricultural land have been allocated to other purposes. (Purple-eu.org). How do urban and peri urban agriculture evolve in this demanding and competitive context? Like in every COST meeting, we had the opportunity to learn from field visits and from conferences with local and international experts. The ideas presented in this post owe much also to the excellent STSM report Urban Agriculture in Warsaw by Charlotte Prove. At the farming level, not surprisingly, we found basically conventional farms. There are however some experiences of Urban farming (i.e. intentionally materialized business models taking advantage of the proximity to the city, as described in the document about UA types from WG1):
- Leisure farms. We visited the Eco-farm ‘four seasons’ in Powsin, a farm whose primary business is connected to its restaurant, and leisure activities.
- Local food farms. Although still in its infancy, there is also an increasing interest in new relationships between consumers and producers, with examples of box schemes, direct sales or farmers market. The first CSA in Poland is located 100 km away from Warsaw (Prove, 2014)
At the gardening level (low economic dependence on material outputs) there is an interesting mix of:
- Allotment gardens, in the words of Prove: They used to be out of the city centers, but as cities grew, they are now often strategically located. This is often valuable and expensive land which has come under pressure. The change in name from Workers Allotment Gardens to Family Gardens reflects the changed attitude towards them. Where they used to serve mainly for food production, they have now mostly recreational purposes. (…) [Although they current leisure orientation] many stakeholders in the interviews still refer to the allotment gardens as ‘the’ place where urban agriculture could go on, if it would take place in Warsaw. Our visit to the Family Allotment Garden “Ursynów” confirmed these ideas.
- Community gardens, there are different experiences throughout Warsaw, like Palacyk Konopackiego. Social interaction is of special importance and many of them emerge as spaces for artistic expression.
- Educational gardens, we learned about educational networks, e.g. initiatives to promote vegetable gardens in schools by Kwiatkibratki and Slow Food Youth
- Experimental gardening: like Greenhouse combined with crematorium, or vertical farm designs
Prove points out different possibilities by which UA could gain its own space in the Warsaw Metropolitan areas. Some of them are already commonplaces in the academia: «national and local political leaders appeals for self-reliance, Provision for urban agriculture in city master plans, Revised urban regulations, Direct public engagement in urban agriculture production «. In the case of Warsaw there are also new institutional mechanisms with potential impact on urban agriculture: «Participatory budget: each of the 18 districts in Warsaw makes a small percentage of their budget available for projects proposed by the community. Through voting, projects can be selected. This participatory budget opens the way for funding of urban agriculture activities. Local initiatives grants: the municipality offers grants to support individuals who initiate projects. Although here again, no explicit support for urban agriculture activities, this is a way to fund bottom-up projects». urban agriculture projects. The visit to Warsaw and its surroundings was fruitful, thanks a lot to Barbara Szulczewska and her team from Department of Landscape Architecture of the University of Life Science in Warsaw that organized the meeting, and to Mirosław Grochowski who guided the field trip!
El cuarto encuentro de la COST Action Agricultura Urbana Europe se celebró en abril, en Varsovia. Durante mucho tiempo el sector agrario ha sido muy importante pra la econcomía de Polonia. Todavía hoy el nivel de autosuficiencia para los productos principales está cerca del 90-100% y desde el ingreso en la UE, la agricultura ha experimentado notables transformaciones.
«Official Polish figures for last year [2013] put agri-food exports at $27 billion, an increase of 11.5% compared with the previous year. Growth for this year will be 10%, according to government estimates. Last year Poland only imported around $19 billion in agri-food produce, and thus posted a healthy trade balance of $7.8 billion. Poland even surpassed China as the world’s biggest exporter of apples in 2013. » (The Economist, 2014)
Esta aparente «edad de oro de la agricultura» no impide que se dé una fuerte presión urbana en las zonas de agricultura en entornos periurbanos, como suced en el Área Metropolitana de Varsovia. «Desdee 1992 se han perdido al menos 27 mil hectáreas de los mejores terrenos agrícolas, que se han destinado a otros fines. (Purple-eu.org). ¿Cómo evolucionan la agricultura urbana y periurbana en este contexto tan exigente y competitivo? Como en los otros encuentros COST, tuvimos la oportunidad de acercarnos a esta realidad a través de las visitas de vampo y de las conferencias a cargo de expertos locales e internacionales. Las ideas que se explican en esta entrada también deben mucho al excelente STSM informe Urban Agriculture in Warsaw redacatado por Charlotte Prove. A nivel de las explotaciones (farming level) y como era de esperar, encontramos sobre todo una agricultura convencional. Pero también hay algunas experiencias de Urban farming (es decir, modelos de negocio que intencionadamente se plantean que puedan aprovechar las ventajas de su proximidad a la ciudad, tal y como se describe en el documento sobre tipos de Agricultura Urbana del WG1):
- Leisure farms. We visited the Eco-farm ‘four seasons’ in Powsin, a farm whose primary business is connected to its restaurant, and leisure activities.
- Local food farms. Although still in its infancy, there is also an increasing interest in new relationships between consumers and producers, with examples of box schemes, direct sales or farmers market. The first CSA in Poland is located 100 km away from Warsaw (Prove, 2014)
At the gardening level (low economic dependence on material outputs) there is an interesting mix of:
- Allotment gardens, in the words of Prove: They used to be out of the city centers, but as cities grew, they are now often strategically located. This is often valuable and expensive land which has come under pressure. The change in name from Workers Allotment Gardens to Family Gardens reflects the changed attitude towards them. Where they used to serve mainly for food production, they have now mostly recreational purposes. (…) [Although they current leisure orientation] many stakeholders in the interviews still refer to the allotment gardens as ‘the’ place where urban agriculture could go on, if it would take place in Warsaw. Our visit to the Family Allotment Garden “Ursynów” confirmed these ideas.
- Community gardens, there are different experiences throughout Warsaw, like Palacyk Konopackiego. Social interaction is of special importance and many of them emerge as spaces for artistic expression.
- Educational gardens, we learned about educational networks, e.g. initiatives to promote vegetable gardens in schools by Kwiatkibratki and Slow Food Youth
- Experimental gardening: like Greenhouse combined with crematorium, or vertical farm designs
Prove points out different possibilities by which UA could gain its own space in the Warsaw Metropolitan areas. Some of them are already commonplaces in the academia: «national and local political leaders appeals for self-reliance, Provision for urban agriculture in city master plans, Revised urban regulations, Direct public engagement in urban agriculture production «. In the case of Warsaw there are also new institutional mechanisms with potential impact on urban agriculture: «Participatory budget: each of the 18 districts in Warsaw makes a small percentage of their budget available for projects proposed by the community. Through voting, projects can be selected. This participatory budget opens the way for funding of urban agriculture activities. Local initiatives grants: the municipality offers grants to support individuals who initiate projects. Although here again, no explicit support for urban agriculture activities, this is a way to fund bottom-up projects». urban agriculture projects. The visit to Warsaw and its surroundings was fruitful, thanks a lot to Barbara Szulczewska and her team from Department of Landscape Architecture of the University of Life Science in Warsaw that organized the meeting, and to Mirosław Grochowski who guided the field trip!
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