GMO BLOCKADE

PRESS RELEASE  

                                                        
       'Polish Farmers Blockade Motorways Across Country ' 


This week thousands of Polish family farmers from the Solidarity trade union 
turned out to protest in over 50 locations across the country. Over 150 tractors 
have been blockading the A2 motorway into Warsaw since the 3rd February and 
hundreds more have closed roads and are picketing governmental offices in other 
regions. The farmers are vowing to continue the struggle until the government 
agrees to enter talks with the union and commit to addressing what they see as a 
crisis in Polish agriculture.

These actions represent a dramatic escalation of protests that have been 
simmering across the country over the last year. Edward Kosmal, chairman of the 
farmers protest committee for West-Pomeranian Region said: “We are ready for 
dialogue. We look forward to meeting with you Prime Minister and beginning a 
comprehensive government commitment to solving the problems of Polish 
agriculture. If you do not enter into a dialogue with the Union, we would be 
forced to tighten our forms of protest.”

The four key demands of the farmers are:
1.Land rights – implement regulation to prevent land-grabs by Western companies 
and to protect family farmers rights to land – (NB. From 2016 foreign buyers 
will be legally able to buy Polish land).
2.Legalize direct sales of farm produce – the government must take action to 
improve farmers’ position in the market, including the adoption of a law to 
facilitate direct sales of processed and unprocessed farm products (NB. Poland 
has the most exclusionary policies in Europe around on-farm processing of food 
products and direct sales, which make it impossible for family farmers to 
compete with bigger food companies).
3.Extend inheritance laws to include land under lease as a fully legal form of 
land use.
4.Ban the cultivation and sale of Genetically Modified Organisms in Poland

Quotes from Solidarity farmers trade union press releases on the 2nd and 3rd of 
February:

“We demand a legal ban on GM crops in Poland. The value of Polish agriculture, 
unique in Europe, is the unpolluted environment and high quality food 
production. That's decisive concerning our competitiveness in global markets.”

 “We are entitled to conclude that the European Union blindness deprives people 
in our country from thinking in terms of the importance of development for 
Polish citizens, and thus the Polish economy”

“We demand the introduction of legislation that will protect Polish land from 
exploitation by foreign capital! Agricultural land cannot be sold to commercial 
companies. It's part of Polish territory. Once sold it will be lost.” 

PHOTOS AND FILMS FROM PROTEST HERE BELOW...
http://landworkersalliance.org.uk/2015/02/polish-farmers-blockade-motorways-across-country/


Jadwiga Lopata and Sir Julian Rose, Vice President and President ICPPC