Barriers to Dedicated Energy Crop Cultivation in Poland: The Case of Willow in the Grudziadz Region

This research aims at finding out the barriers to dedicated energy crop cultivation from the perspective of farmers. The study focuses on the case of willow in the Grudziadz region in Poland. Great potential in the long term has been identified for dedicated energy crops, especially in countries with large areas of agricultural land and the need for diversification of activities in rural areas. However, in Poland the development of these crops has not moved at the pace that was expected. So far, no research has been conducted on the farmers' level about barriers to dedicated energy crop growing. During the on-the-ground study, primarily 29 farmers were interviewed about why they have not taken up willow cultivation and what they perceive as problems related to this crop. The main perceived barriers could be grouped into four main categories: financial, informational, technical and market related barriers. Other significant related factors influencing farmers' decision are the farm size and the suitability of soils in terms of water content. Based on the perceptions gathered during the interviews from the Grudziadz region, it can be concluded that under present conditions willow cultivation is not profitable from the farmers' point of view. The main reason for willow being uncompetitive compared to traditional crops is the current subsidy system in Poland, where under the adopted EU CAP scheme dedicated energy crops do not qualify for aid. The removal of this barrier needs involvement on the policy-making level. However, one opportunity that has been discussed in this work to address the identified barriers was possible cooperation for biomass growing among the interested farmers. Still, as a result of this research it remained somewhat unclear where the potential areas for willow cultivation exactly are located in this particular case and how much potential there actually is in this region. These issues would need further research. Since, this research focused only on the barriers to willow cultivation, it would be interesting to investigate the barriers to growing other dedicated energy crops, such as perennial energy grasses.