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? [Leer más…] acerca de Agricultura Periurbana en Varsovia