[ Michal ]The West doesn't want to buy the foodstuff we produce
They cut us out of local markets and we can't sell to Russia because
politicians pursue their global interests at Polish farmers and Russian consumers' expense
[ Piotr ]I try to be optimistic, if I was a pessimist, I think I'd look for another job
Some days, I feel I've had enough and really want to quit
Maybe next year…
maybe next year will be better, something may change
Everyone says fruit growing is unprofitable in Poland
but many generations have lived off it for so long, what now, leave it all, quit?
Then what? A supermarket checkout?
I don't know
If I had to shut it all down, what would I do next? 00:01:37.108 00:01:46.828 [ VO ]The food import ban put in place by Russia in August 2014, was a response to a number of political and economic sanctions imposed by the US and the European Union. 00:02:00.430 00:02:07.030 It threatened to push a huge number of farms to the brink of ruin, and that urged people to take to the streets of European cities.
[ Fernando ]It’s very bad news because the agricultural sector suffers from
a lack of political judgment
Prices are falling because supply exceeds demand
Russia is a huge market for lots of fruit and vegetables from Catalonia and Spain
[ Lorenzo ]It’s peak season for fruit and vegetables
They locked us out of the market,
and we can't sell our produce, or take it somewhere else
[ Fernando ]We hope that in a few weeks, maybe days,
a month at most, all will be resolved and go back to normal
the Russian market is important to us
We make a good product, and we want it resolved as fast as possible
so we can resume selling to Russia
[ Davide ]I started work when I was 14, after high school, I liked it
I've liked being in the field since I was a kid
I always wanted to be in the open air, I like it a lot
It takes patience, and passion
Yes, passion, it's a lot like raising a child, rake the grass, plough and water the soil
I work every day, from April to late autumn
We start with asparagus, then we harvest peaches, zucchini
and kiwi too
The whole family has to work with you, if the whole family wasn't in it,
farming would be overwhelming
Costs are huge, we're up against giant corporations,
we can't grow more, it's hard
and getting even harder
Mum and Dad work all day long too
They're used to getting up early
They work in rain or wind and under the scorching sun too
And they enjoy it! Like me, they like being in the open air
My wife sometimes helps out too,
only in summer, our kids are in school
Francesca helps, she doesn't really like it but Paolo might carry on my work
He enjoys it. Yes, all the family work with me 00:06:24.430 00:06:36.950 [ Mogherini ]The European Union has in this five years not only imposed sanctions but also kept the unity over time, on the sanctions that were constantly renewed. I've always said from the very beginning the objective of 00:06:36.950 00:06:45.447 sanctions is not that they stay forever; it's to put pressure in order to overcome the situation, so the objective of sanctions is that one day they would be lifted but we do not see positive steps.
[ Davide ]We were in profit sending kiwi to Russia and Libya, we made good money then
We had Russia…
who else… England, France…
They bought peaches and kiwi…
We sold to those three,
and prices were higher
Now Russia doesn't buy from us, only France and England
They say: we'll pay this price. Not happy?
That's your problem! There's more choice now, prices have fallen
It's important to me that people better appreciate all the hard work we do
[ Carlos ]Remember that Russian sanctions will stay for the whole year,
they won't just affect now, but the future too
We can't completely lose a vital market, that we worked on for years
and it would be very difficult to recover demand and re-establish
exports in a short time 00:08:23.285 00:08:29.925 [ VO ]The anti-Russian sanctions have had adverse economic consequences and caused a lot of controversy among European Union countries.
[ Gianluca ]I think Europe is making foolish choices against Russia
and it's millions of Europeans who must pay
All because you support America and its interests
I think we should work with Russia! 00:08:52.607 00:08:58.007 [ VO ]At the same time, inevitable import phase-out has led to a substantial upturn in the Russian agricultural sector.
[ Thomas ]Russia’s very natural environment has a lot of potential
I get the impression that Russia's government does a lot to develop the agricultural sector,
I mean, they're investing heavily now
I know many new fruit trees have been planted around Krasnodar, and on a huge scale
They don't use small plots like us but 500, 600 or 1,000 hectares
In time, it'll only get harder to export to Russia,
their production is growing and they're doing a lot for it
German exports to Russia were quite low, only about 10%, I think
So the embargo didn't affect us directly
What happened in 2014 wasn't a real embargo, it was just a backlash
Poland though, the largest producer and supplier to Russia, had two very bad years
Ten years ago, they planted many apple trees in Poland, specially for the Russian market
Then 2014 happened!
The trees were just fruiting at full capacity
The apples, about half the total yield, were meant for Russia but they couldn't use them
It had a major impact on the Polish market
which was very weak and mainly export-oriented
So Poland suffered much more after 2014, than Germany
Germany mainly shipped a variety called Gloucester to Russia,
red apples that are quite big and taste good too
but red apples aren't in great demand here,
so we had to uproot almost all of them
[ Thomas ]Of course, despite all that, it would be good if the market reopened, old contacts were restored
and the goods that were grown specially for this…
that we grew for it, could be sold somewhere else again
The confrontation shifted to economic systems
that compete with each other and make no progress
What America does against Russia and China is just a struggle for world market dominance
In my opinion, it's not the perennial East-West problem but a struggle between opposing blocs
Developing the market systems in Russia and China against
those in Western Europe and America that always dominated 00:12:20.210 00:12:29.570 [ VO ]Some European Union countries claim that there was no real need for such rash political decisions that wrought disastrous consequences.
[ Joachim ]Our exports to Russia have been simply cut in half
It has led to a widespread collapse, in value creation too, among other things
We hurt Russian dignity, good people with rich culture and Christian traditions
That was wrong,
and now, they're not behaving as we would have them behave
We urge policymakers to intensify diplomatic negotiations to mitigate the current situation
[ Frans ]We must be more flexible, never have a constant price
I mean, if we follow the market, we have ups and downs depending on many factors;
first the weather, if the weather abroad is bad…
you can profit more
This summer, for example was very hot
So all the shops were filled with goods better than ours
and then you find yourself in a deep… hole… as we say
[ Luc ]We felt that there was some tension between Russia and the European Union
Of course, eventually that led to a boycott, specifically...
of agricultural produce
They chose a relatively small sector,
and it had a profound impact on individual businesses
It came as a complete surprise to us,
especially the fact that they didn't boycott industries like steel
but specifically, the agricultural sector
We really regretted this and still do, because we can't understand
how a specific sector can be held responsible for the whole political field,
or even partly for political affairs and situations
[ Frans ]At first of course, everyone was scared:
'I won't be able to sell my tomatoes anywhere!'
And we all wondered, why agriculture?
Why vegetable farming?
It was due to contradictions that should have been settled elsewhere
[ Rinus ]Of course, everyone coped in their own way
We genuinely regretted that we couldn't sell to Russia anymore
Some didn't harvest at all but I think that's very wasteful,
after all, you tend your fruit all year long, we did, as a family business
This region, where we are now, is where you find most of Holland's pear orchards
More than 1,000 hectares of pears in just one municipality
In the first year of the boycott, farmers just left their fruit hanging on the trees
The boycott's consequences are still underestimated
We were robbed of our money
And think of all the doubts we had: 'Should we harvest at all? What do I do?'
They are all the negative effects of the boycott
A political decision and no one thought about the consequences
for families whose living is from hard labour
I think it all influenced market prices
the goods had to be shipped further away,
and even though that market was more expensive,
profits were no higher,
I mean prices changed because everything we didn't ship to Russia had to be sold elsewhere 00:18:13.423 00:18:24.823 [ VO ]In October 2017, German newspaper Die Welt published an article where it said that the European Union lost 30 billion euro because of the very anti-Russian sanctions they imposed. 00:18:25.417 00:18:30.777 It especially affected Eastern Europe. Many Polish farmers went broke and even committed suicides.
[ Piotr ]Yes, in the closed gas chambers there's only 1.5% oxygen and 1.5% carbon dioxide
It's a very easy death, just go in and fall asleep
They commit suicide in airtight chambers, I don't get it
It just doesn't solve anything
Even the equipment they had on their farms,
they could've sold it all and moved on, right?
But it's mainly due to loans, big debts, bailiffs could come and seize all their property
and people around would laugh at them,
they'd be a laughing stock because they went broke and lost their property
It's about unfulfilled ambition and the goals you set
that's a more psychological approach but I don't want to go deep into…
the mentality of people who plan suicide but the main reason is always money
This is a farm that's been run by several generations
It's the third generation caring for this farm
All the trees were uprooted. Only recently, there were apples here
One more like this… another uprooted area. This one's next for uprooting
Very old orchards, all cut down, I'll cut mine too
I'm quite busy with apples, commercially,
so I don't have time but I think I'll do it by spring
The first year after the embargo I didn't feel shock,
or that everything was crumbling and nothing would sell, no, it was OK
It was the third year, maybe, after the embargo
that we started to feel it and face major problems with fruit sales
Here's five
I expected more like five, five and a half
Well, five, almost five and a half is OK for us
- Take this. Wait, this one. No - The small one, right?
This is a bad crate. I'll tell the truth, when I sorted the apples,
- they were mostly soft apples, not solid - Sometimes you get them
Like this one…
There's no colour…
It doesn't need colour
If you have about...
30% like this… there won't be a problem…
Six-plus! 00:21:18.182 00:21:31.302 [ VO ]Between late 2014 and mid-2018, European Union provided cash relief of 500 million euro to fruit and vegetable producers, to compensate for the disposal of unsold produce.
[ Piotr ]Another load of trash, that money was just thrown away
The smarter ones, those with connections, did benefit from it
The public prosecutor should look into it but I don't want to discuss that in public
Yes, it really did happen, there was money,
it's just that...
not everyone got it
So it sounds good, all those millions or even billions, but we have lots of farms,
count all the farmers and it's not even enough for half of them
[ Roman ]It’s a struggle for our survival
The situation is that the money we are able to make from selling the apples
doesn't even cover the costs of production
I have always been an optimist and looked to the future with hope
That's why I was counting on the next generations
But in this crisis situation,
my grandchildren...
college graduates and students,
they see their futures in other areas
They just say,
'Grandpa,
there are no prospects in fruit farming!'
So, all that's left for me to do
is to uproot the old orchards,
and I won't be planting any new saplings
Polish fruit farming,
Polish vegetable farming,
Polish agriculture, are at a sharp turn
It's so sharp that some people might skid off the road, unfortunately
That's life
I think we would profit more if…
if there was accord…
between the Russian Federation and European Union
Partnership, joint development… of the states and people
Teras, Teras is photogenic!
[ Micha ]Because of this odd policy, we can't sell our fruit and vegetables to Russia
That's not OK
So, we demand diplomatic and foreign policy changes
to promote trade with our colleagues in Russia
[ Nicolas ]Russia is a big market where we had just started working
This market has huge potential and to stop at the peak of development is very difficult
We expect government support and a lifting of the embargo on Russia
because we understand that...
Russia isn't responsible for the current situation,
its cause lies in our government's position with regard to ideological differences
We're waiting for an agreement to end this deterioration in relations 00:25:18.395 00:25:28.634 [ Mogherini ]We could only wish to see positive developments, and we would always be ready to re-consider this. But at the moment we see rather the opposite, more negative developments on the ground.