According to Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Commission, EU members' farmers recorded huge incomes in 2004. The income in all new member states together grew on average by 50%, while in the "old" EU it increased by a mere 0.8%.
Agricultural income in Poland in 2004 grew by 73.5% compared to 2003. From among the new EU member states, only the Czech Republic had higher growth, at 108%. Polish experts have warned, however, that the data does not represent the full picture, since Eurostat examined only 12,000 domestic farms that keep accounts. In Poland there are over 1.5 million farms, of which only the 50,000 largest keep records.
According to Jerzy Plewa, Poland’s former chief negotiator for agriculture issues, the agricultural incomes for producers of white beet and stock-farmers were among those which grew the most, while the year was disastrous for grain and soft fruit producers.
