Meet the FABLE Poland team

The FABLE Poland team is led jointly by the Sustainable Economy Institute (IZG) and the Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IRWiR PAN). The team's main areas of interest have been in the climate resilience of Polish agriculture, the design and evaluation of the Common Agricultural Policy, and the transition towards healthy and sustainable diets.

IZG is a leading expert organisation that combines research, communication and cross-sector cooperation to support reforms made in Poland, from clean technologies to resilient agriculture. It provides independent reports, analyses, and strategic recommendations to support public debate and evidence-based decision-making in Poland.

IRWiR PAN is the institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences dedicated to research on rural areas, agriculture and food systems. Its work combines agricultural economics, rural sociology and spatial analysis, with particular strengths in the quantitative evaluation of agricultural policy, the analysis of farm-level microdata, and the political economy of policy design. The institute takes part in Horizon Europe projects on food systems, biodiversity and soil, including FOODPathS, FoSSNet, BioMonitor4CAP and SoilValues, and contributes to evaluation and advisory work for national and European institutions.

Their shared objective is to provide robust data and evidence-based solutions that contribute to shaping a more sustainable future for Poland's agriculture and food system. The Polish farming sector is distinctive in its structure, as the majority of holdings are small in scale, while medium and large farms concentrate on livestock production and mixed farming. This diversity requires economic and technological approaches tailored to support sustainable farming pathways. Through data-driven, country-specific scenario analyses, the team aims to develop transformation pathways towards a more sustainable and resilient farming sector.

Models used: FABLE Calculator

Transforming food and land-use systems in Poland

Polish agriculture is one of the sectors most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Rising temperatures, increasingly frequent and severe droughts, soil degradation, and growing pressure on water resources are systematically undermining the stability of agricultural production. Most soils in Poland have a limited capacity to retain rainfall, with nearly 60% classified as susceptible or highly susceptible to agricultural drought. As a result, Polish farmers and public finances bear a substantial economic burden due to crop losses caused by drought, which are further exacerbated by unsustainable agricultural practices. At the same time, nearly three-quarters of Poland's agricultural land is used for livestock production. The expansion of water-intensive livestock systems and the reliance on drought-sensitive feed crops, such as maize, further reduce the resilience of the sector and increase the risk and scale of future losses.

Safeguarding the conditions for long-term production is fundamental to food security, and this is becoming harder as climate change alters production conditions, especially since Polish agriculture is predominantly rainfed.

Although Polish agriculture produces sufficient calories to meet the population's energy needs, it does not provide a food system that supports healthy and sustainable diets. The overconsumption of meat and sugar, combined with insufficient intake of pulses, legumes, and vegetables, contributes to more than half of the population being overweight or obese. Promoting healthier dietary patterns that improve public health while reducing environmental impacts is therefore an urgent priority.

Several levers for change are available: water retention and soil management practices that reduce drought exposure, a shift in the composition of feed and fodder crops, more precise targeting of CAP eco-schemes and agri-environment-climate measures, and dietary change that lowers both the environmental footprint of the food system and the public-health burden.

Key national objectives and targets

The key national objectives and targets are shaped by both national strategies and Poland's commitments as a member of the European Union. The main objectives relevant to agriculture and rural development are:

• Poland's CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027, which uses performance indicators with target values to monitor progress towards the planned outcomes by 2027. Key objectives include:
  • Climate action and sustainable land management: increase the area of agricultural land under climate and environmental commitments through eco-schemes and agri-environment-climate measures, with performance monitored by the number of hectares managed under practices such as carbon farming, permanent grassland conservation, diversified crop rotations, and reduced tillage.
  • Soil, water and biodiversity protection: expand the area of farmland managed under measures that protect soil quality, water resources and biodiversity, including buffer strips, landscape features, habitat conservation, integrated production, and water retention measures.
  • Animal welfare and low-emission investments: increase the number of livestock units covered by enhanced animal welfare measures, and support farm investments in manure management, precision agriculture, renewable energy, and low-emission technologies that improve environmental performance.
• Framework Action Plan for Organic Food and Farming in Poland for 2021-2030:
  • Foster the growth of organic production and of the organic products market in Poland.
  • Increase the land area dedicated to organic farming to at least 7% of total agricultural land.
• National Emission Reduction Commitments (NEC) Directive:
  • Reduce ammonia emissions by 17% by 2030 compared with 2005.

Research interests in food and land-use

The FABLE Poland team intends to use the FABLE modelling framework to examine how Poland's food and land-use system can become more resilient and more sustainable under a changing climate and a reformed Common Agricultural Policy. Five areas are of particular interest:

1. Climate resilience and water. Quantifying how drought exposure, limited soil water retention and the choice of feed and fodder crops shape the long-term stability of agricultural production.
2. CAP design and evaluation after 2027. Linking scenario results to the design of the CAP Strategic Plan and its Green Architecture, and assessing the coherence between policy instruments and their intended environmental outcomes.
3. Livestock systems and land use. Examining the land, feed and emission implications of alternative livestock production pathways.
4. Healthy and sustainable diets. Assessing the environmental and public-health consequences of dietary change, including lower meat and sugar consumption and higher intake of pulses, legumes and vegetables.
5. Political economy of agricultural policy. Developing indicators that capture how political and institutional factors shape the allocation of agricultural support, and using them to explain the gap between the stated ambitions of food and land-use policy and the outcomes actually delivered.

Policy engagement

The team works with a broad network of stakeholders whose expertise and perspectives contribute to advancing sustainable food and land-use approaches in Poland and across Europe. These include Polish farmers and farming organisations, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Climate and Environment, European think tanks, and national research institutes.

IZG contributes to the national policy debate through reports and policy briefs on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy and on business models for Polish farming, accompanied by press briefings, round tables and working groups bringing together farmers, public administration and industry.

IRWiR PAN contributes to agricultural policy design through evaluation and advisory work for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and for the European Commission, and through participation in European research projects and networks on rural and food-system transitions.

Publications

• Anusik, J., Wrona, A. (2026). Different pathways, common ground: business models for modern farming in Poland. Report. IZG, Sustainable Economy Institute. https://izg.org.pl/en/business-models-for-modern-farming-in-poland-report/
• Chmieliński, P., Pawłowska, A., Bocian, M., Osuch, D. (2019). The land is what matters: factors driving family farms to organic production in Poland. British Food Journal, 121(6), 1354-1367. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-05-2018-0338
• Craig, W., J., Messina, V., Rowland, I., Frankowska, A., Bradburz, J., Smetana, S., Medici, E. (2023). Plant-Based Dairy Alternatives Contribute to a Healthy and Sustainable Diet, Nutrients 15(15), 339. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15153393
• Figiel, S., Gajda, J., Kufel-Gajda, J. (2026). Effect of global energy price shocks on dynamics of world agricultural and food prices. Agriculture, 16(9), 945. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture16090945
• Jakubowska, A., Parol, J., Wrona, A. (2026). CAP post 2027: recommendations for Polish agriculture. Policy brief. IZG, Sustainable Economy Institute. https://izg.org.pl/en/cap-post-2027-recommendations-for-polish-agriculture/
• Mubareka, S.B., Frankowska, A., et al. (2025). Environmental impact, novel foods, and urban well-being. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2025. https://doi.org/10.2760/8288882
• Wieliczko, B., Kurdyś-Kujawska, A., Floriańczyk, Z. (2021). EU rural policy's capacity to facilitate a just sustainability transition of the rural areas. Energies, 14(16), 5050. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14165050
• Wrona, A., Jakubowska, A., Parol, J. (2026). Dzieląc kłos na czworo. Czy polski system żywnościowy jest gotowy na przyszłość? [Is the Polish food system ready for the future?]. Report. IZG, Sustainable Economy Institute. https://izg.org.pl/raport-dzielac-klos-na-czworo-czy-polski-system-zywnosciowy-jest-gotowy-na-przyszlosc/

Recent activities

• July 2026: the FABLE Advisory Council approved the creation of the FABLE Poland country team, formed by IZG and IRWiR PAN.
• September to November 2026: team members take part in the advanced training "Design and evaluate agricultural and food policies by using and modifying the FABLE calculator", organised by IHEDD-FERDI in partnership with the FABLE Consortium.