Warsaw - Polish strawberry growers expected a good season, but instead of profits they counted losses. Many growers owning large plantations already ploughed existing strawberry fields. A good example is Koronowo region, well known as a strawberry specializing area. One of the largest and the oldest in Poland is the nursery Markiewicz. Though they specialize in strawberry plants production, they used to grow fruit on 100 hectares.

“I devoted 30 years of my life to strawberries” – says enterprise owner Mariola Markiewicz – “but I can’t stand the current situation any more. I decided to plough 80 hectares of the plantation and leave only 20 hectares for next year”. Another grower from the same region, Tadeusz Latka, decided to plough even more – 100 hectares, after 20 years of work with strawberries.

Some growers expected problems already at the beginning of 2007, having in mind the situation in 2006 when half of the fruit was left on the fields because of lack of labour. Polish seasonal workers decided to work in Western countries and students and with school children were not interested in heavy work on strawberry plantations. Many growers decided to look for workers in Ukraine. Mariola Markiewicz wanted to find 100 workers in Ukraine. She even prepared a small hotel for them and hired a cook. But at the end only few Ukrainian students arrived, who were more interested in tourism than in work. They worked only when they wanted and left without explanation – says Mariola Markiewicz.

Tadeusz Latka planned to hire 300 persons from Ukraine, but he couldn’t find anybody interested. He asked the Polish Work Office for help – offering work for 200 people (3,15-3,80 €/hour) – but nobody responded here either.

According to the President of the Association of Polish Fruit-Growers Miroslaw Maliszewski same situations were seen everywhere in Poland this year. Many plantations were left untouched because of lack of labour. What is going to happen next? Large growers decided to change specialization. Mariola Markiewicz wants to grow sweet cherries, Tadeusz Latka corn, rape and wheat. Next year, strawberries in Poland will be probably grown on small family plantations using only their own labour. This can mean more expensive fruit, a much smaller crop and fewer export.