I was also involved with efforts to start 4-H in Poland . In general, the Project's efforts focus on providing the basic economic knowledge and skills needed to manage farms and agribusinesses, not on trying to increase agricultural production. In fact, it is a common misconception that farmers in Eastern Europe lack the know-how or technology to produce food and fiber as well as farmers in the West. It was my third trip to Eastern Europe, and I learned very quickly that Poland was different from the other two countries I had visited, must further ahead than Russia in its economic reforms and having an agricultural industry structure significantly different from Hungary's. In fact, Poland stands in stark contrast to other Eastern European countries because the Communists never fully collectivized agriculture there, though food processing and distribution were incorporated into central planning.
Private farms control three-quarters of the land in Poland.
Most private farms are small, averaging around 15 acres and producing both crops and livestock. Farm size is dictated to a large extent by region. Farms in the southern and eastern region of Poland are smaller than farms in the rest of the country. It goes without saying that small farms are ill-equipped. Hand labor is still widely used.