A tale of two orchards

This year - like 2016 and 2014 - will be a bumper year for Polish apple growers. Great news for consumers - better produce at lower prices, more apple juice (pressed, not from concentrate), more cider (despite Polish government's insistence on excise bands and an advertising ban). But growers are likely to protest. There have already been two large protests in Warsaw from potato growers and soft fruit and berry growers; the scale of Poland's apple growing industry is such that as more and more produce reaches the markets, the price will plummet and the pain will be felt.

It will be felt in different ways by different growers. Down by my działka in Jakubowizna, the neighbourhood is crammed with orchards. And there's a huge difference between them.

Some orchards are modern, like the one below, with rows of trees spaced so that a narrow tractor can drive between them. Rows held upright along concrete posts, trees pruned so that pickers can easily get at all the fruit. Pesticides sparingly used (on the basis of computerised measurement of pests and optimal dosing). The orchards are fenced off to prevent theft and malicious intruders. The owners of such orchards spend the evenings learning online about market trends and prices from portalspożywczy.pl or from producers of agri-food supplies (everything from seeds to tractor-trailers).

Some orchards are almost wild, overgrown, trees bearing apples speckled with blight, unfenced and yet fecund; who will pick these apples? Pickers can afford to be picky - why work here when the modern orchard across the road offers a better and safer working environment? Reminder - the Grójec poviat (district) has the lowest rural unemployment anywhere in Poland. Last October, registered unemployment was 2.2% (compared to 2.1% for booming Warsaw). My guess is that these gone-to-seed orchards will either be harvested by their elderly owners or will be left unharvested.

I feel sorry for the farmers who've done the right thing - they've invested in modern methods, they understand the market, and yet over-supply this coming autumn will mean that they will not be able to get a good price for their quality product. The farmer who has failed to invest, who has no bank loans to pay off, will be faced with the decision to harvest the apples and take them to the local punkt skupu (collection/purchase point) for a derisory sum (10 grosze a kilo I've seen!) as jabłko przemysłowe ('industrial apple', destined for processing) or let them fall off the trees and rot.

It is all about the marketing. Not putting premium apples and selling them in five-kilo bags, but in trays of four (ideally eco-friendly trays). Looking for novel varieties, or resurrecting old varieties, bypassed in the rush to standardisation. Several years ago, not-from-concentrate pressed (NFC) apple juice found its way into three- and five-litre boxes containing vacuum-filled bags. This solution, introduced in the 1980s as a way to market cheap Spanish wines, created an entire new market segment.

Last week, I bought one of these (left), a two-and-half litre (with an extra 250ml for free) presentation of NFC apple juice in a stand-alone bag, which dispenses with the need for the cardboard box. Innovation helps by creating new demand, but at the end of the day there's only so many apples we can eat and so much apple juice and cider we can drink in a day. Poland needs to step up its apple exports.

With the Russian market subject to sanctions, Poland's apple growers need to find new markets. India is a good example. India? you ask. Did you know the largest source of apples exported to India comes from the US and is subject to 10% duty? And that the Indian government has reacted to Trump's tariffs by raising the duty to 25%? Wow! What a market for Polish apples! But are growers ready? Is the transport infrastructure there? Do they understand the Indian market?

Remember this: Poland is the world's number three apple producer. Only China and the US produce more apples than Poland - and the US is not that far ahead. Poland is the world's number two apple exporter (by quantity) after China - but when ranked by value of those exports, Poland is only eighth. American apples are six times more valuable than Polish ones!

Yet Polish apples are superb. They have the right balance of sweetness and acidity and close texture. The climate is ideal, with plenty of late-summer/early-autumn sunshine and early frosts. What's needed is a marketing push. Anyone around in the UK in the 1970s will remember the 'Le Crunch' TV ad campaign for French Golden Delicious apples ('delicious' they are not). The campaign was so effective that France is the number one exporter of apples to the UK to this day (followed by South Africa, Chile, New Zealand and the US). Where's Poland?

While waiting for this season's apples (the first are being harvested now), I'm gorging myself on berries. On Friday, I bought half a kilo of finest blackcurrant (no tiddlers or weeds) for two and half złoty (5zł/kg). That's 50p a pound more or less. That's ridiculously cheap. The farmer's probably getting 1.50zł a kilo - and it's notoriously difficult to pick blackcurrants. (Poland's the world's second largest producer of currants after Russia.) Stats from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) - website tables here, browse around, it's addictive!

This time last year:
My 20 years in Poland
(hey! It's another anniversary - 21 today!)

This time two years ago:
PiS, Brexit, Trump and cognitive bias

This time five years ago:
Portmeirion, revisited, again

This time six years ago:
Beach day, Llyn Peninsula

This time sevenyears ago:
Down with cars in city centres!

This time eight years ago:
8am and 26C already