Poland’s freshwater resources are widely regarded as being below the UN water scarcity threshold. This situation poses a serious challenge to the stability of the Polish economy. It directly reduces business profitability, raises production costs, and increases the risk of disruptions to food supply chains.
Polish agriculture is among the sectors most exposed to fluctuations in water availability, and national food security depends not only on the amount of water available, but also on its predictability and continuity. The entire agri-food production system depends on uninterrupted access to water. Prolonged dry spells or sudden events such as flash floods make traditional crop-management models increasingly risky, forcing a rethink of how water is managed.
Polish agriculture must move from passively relying on rainfall to actively retaining moisture in the soil and across agricultural land.
Water in Poland can no longer be treated as an inexhaustible resource. Availability is steadily declining, and unsustainable water use is rapidly depleting surface and groundwater reserves. The result is water shortages during key stages of crop development, including irrigation systems.
A fundamental problem for Polish agriculture remains the lack of precise data on actual water use — a basic element, alongside soil and biodiversity, that underpins food security.
Agricultural water withdrawals in Poland are not measured in a fully systematic way. We therefore do not know the true scale of the water availability problem the country faces. There is no integrated monitoring system that aggregates data from the various state institutions. Effective management of a shrinking resource requires data-driven decisions, so introducing mandatory monitoring of groundwater levels on farms — using either automated systems or manual gauges — is an urgent task for farmers, businesses, local governments, and public administration alike.
The answer to these strategic challenges does not lie primarily in costly retention infrastructure, but in changing habits and practices.
The largest natural water reservoir in Poland is the soil. Increasing organic soil matter by just one percentage point can allow an additional 160 tons of water to be stored per hectare. That water is fully available to plant root systems. This retention mechanism operates continuously and does not require investment in artificial reservoirs.
Improving soil water-holding capacity depends on specific agronomic practices. Well-planned crop rotation, cover crops that maintain soil cover, and pH adjustment through liming all support humus formation. These processes contribute to a crumb structure that can significantly improve the soil’s water balance throughout the profile. In addition, physically covering the soil surface with biomass helps reduce evaporation and protects the field from excessive drying.
This assessment formed the core of the presentation delivered by Dr. Olaf Horbańczuk, Director of the Polish Association for Sustainable Agriculture and Food, at the third edition of the Blue Deal Congress. The event, organised by the Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs, to whom we extend our thanks for the invitation, provided a platform for expert exchange on water security. The panel dedicated to retention and irrigation also included representatives of public administration and Wody Polskie, Poland’s national water management authority.
Water has long ceased to be an unlimited resource, and its actual availability in our country is far lower than is often assumed. At present, we do not even have reliable data on the scale of water use in Polish agriculture, largely because withdrawals are not metered. Rather than focusing solely on infrastructure-based solutions, we must recognise that the largest reservoir is right under our feet: the soil. Our daily agronomic decisions determine whether agriculture will be able to withstand growing water deficits.
– concluded Dr. Olaf Horbańczuk.
Panelists:
- Marek Sawicki, Member of Parliament, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2007-2012 and 2014-2015
- Mateusz Balcerowicz, President of the State Water Holding Polish Waters
- Jacek Zarzecki, Vice Chairman of the Management Board, Polish Sustainable Beef Platform
- Dr. Olaf Horbańczuk – Director of the Polish Association for Sustainable Agriculture and Food
- Marek Zagórski – Chairman of the Agriculture and Food Economy Committee of the FPP
Demand for water across the Polish economy is unlikely to decline in the coming years. In a situation where availability indicators fall below safe levels, every method of retaining water where it falls acquires measurable economic value.
Soil remains the most powerful and accessible tool for strengthening drought resilience in agriculture — a potential that Polish business still uses only to a limited extent.