10 years on the road to sustainable food and farming

On 14 March 2024, the General Assembly of Members was held in conjunction with the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Association’s founding. Our organisation is a non-commercial initiative of a group of companies and individuals representing various sectors of the food responsibility chain, which works to promote, educate and cooperate in the area of sustainable agriculture and food in Poland.

The topic of sustainability of agriculture and food production is one of the most important topics of public debate today in discussions about food security and climate change, as well as the profitability of agricultural production across Europe. Our members are part of this sustainable transition and support agricultural producers, organisations and companies through education and exchange of experiences, contributing to building positive change in the agri-food sector.

Part of the 10th anniversary celebrations was a presentation by Jarosław Wańkowicz, Chairman of the Board, and Karolina Tarnawska, Vice-Chairperson of the Board, summarising the activities, achievements and future directions of our Association. As they pointed out, the consistent implementation of a strategy based on providing knowledge and expertise, supporting businesses, promoting sustainable agricultural products and participating in the process of analysing and commenting on legislation has enabled the Association to build a strong expert position on the agri-food market. Our voice is present in the main opinion-forming and industry media, and the organisation itself has established a position as an important partner working with other industry players in the agri-food sector.

Together with our partner Accenture Poland, we regularly publish reports, studies and analyses and participate in the most important industry events on sustainable agriculture. With the publication of the Sustainable Food in Poland report, we have for the first time identified the potential of the sustainable food market in Poland, which could reach a value of PLN 64.6 billion in the medium term. We are also active in the area of ESG, as demonstrated by the publication of the “Turning Point in the Food Industry” report, for which we surveyed more than 200 companies operating in the agri-food sector, and the results showed that three times as many companies that implemented an ESG strategy reported an increase in operating profit than those that did not.

A key objective of our Association is to disseminate knowledge and create tools for agricultural producers to facilitate the transition to a sustainable agricultural model. The Sustainable Agriculture Guide is the only comprehensive compendium of knowledge on sustainable agriculture that has also been translated into English and is used by member companies to develop ESG strategies. It has been integrated into our education platform, the Academy of Sustainable Agriculture, which now includes 18 areas with 69 lessons on sustainable agriculture.

These include training courses, webinars, conferences and discussions on topics such as the future of carbon farming, the importance of biodiversity, sustainability reporting in the agri-food sector, closed-loop economics in the value chain, waste management in agriculture, breeding, increasing the area under malting barley in Poland and rewarding the best graduates from agricultural universities.

We are also trying to address the challenges related to the social aspects of agriculture. Socially responsible agriculture cannot function without women. That is why we are taking a number of initiatives to increase the role of women in agriculture and food production.

As part of the 10th anniversary celebrations, a debate was held on ‘Trends and future of sustainability in agriculture and food in the next 10 years’. The participants were Agata Stolarska, President of the Board of Timac Agro Polska, Tomasz Kurpiewski, Senior Manager for Sustainability, McDonald’s Polska, Maria Krawczyńska, Director General and Member of the Board of the Responsible Business Forum, Piotr Popa, Public Affairs Expert, Żywiec Group and Anna Haase, farmer. The discussion was moderated by Małgorzata Bojańczyk, Director of the Association for Sustainable Food and Agriculture in Poland.

We would like to thank the Żywiec Group for their hospitality at the Brewery Conference Centre in Warka.