Since its accession to the EU in 2004, the number of organic farms and total organic acreage has increased substantially in Poland. These increases are due in part to the structural composition of Polish agriculture, where small farms, which are easily convertible and are often ‘organic by default’, but chiefly driven by EU greening policy objectives through subsidization for organic operations. The rapid rates of land conversion are not reflected entirely in the retail sector, where low consumer confidence reflects the sector’s need to better educate retailers and consumers to help drive consumer demand. The 2012 EU-U.S. Organic Equivalency Cooperation Agreement is expected to further reduce barriers to entry of organic high quality U.S. products.
