Heifer Teaches Sustainable Agriculture in Poland
Heifer's Mission of Ending Hunger and Poverty is Based on Education
Jul 27, 2009
The Green Leg hen or Polish partridge, is a native Polish hen with green legs and partridge-like plumage. It is respected for its high quality meat and low cholesterol eggs. The bird is also resistant to diseases and does well in lower temperatures. This rare hen is among the heritage breeds that Heifer Poland distributes to small struggling farmers, providing them with new business opportunities and bringing back the animal from the brink of extinction.
Polish Farmers Frustrated by EU Agricultural Regulations
Poland joined the European Union in 2004. Small scale farmers who still milk by hand and slaughter their own pigs are overwhelmed by the EU's sanitary laws and efficiency regulations favoring large, mechanized commercial farms. If small farmers don't comply, they don't receive EU subsidies and lose out to the competition.
Poland has remained one of the last strongholds of small farming in Europe and it is a rare bastion of biodiversity, with 40,000 pairs of nesting storks and thousands of seed varieties that exist nowhere else in the world (NY Times, 4/08). Many small farmers produce high quality products, but they have to find market niches within a new competitive environment. Heifer Poland supports traditional small farmers in their efforts to adapt.
Heifer Supports Polish Farmers in Choosing Sustainable Development
Animals bred for large-scale modern agriculture don't thrive on the small farms. Heifer Poland helps farmers to adopt hardy local breeds that have thrived here for generations. Polish red cattle — raised in Poland since the Middle Ages and almost extinct a decade ago — are smaller than improved breeds and their feed requirements are lower. They produce milk with a higher fat content, that is perfect for cheese making. They also birth their calves without assistance, unlike Holsteins, which require vigilance and frequent visits from a veterinarian. (Erik Hoffner, Heritage Homecoming)
Heifers and Bees for Farmers in the Carpathian Mountains
Heifer also supports a sustainable agriculture project in the Carpathian Mountains in Southeastern Poland. Here 20 families will receive 10 bee families each, and 18 families will receive a pair of heifers. Farmers will pass on the gift according to Heifer principles. For each received heifer, a farmer will pass on a female offspring of the same age and quality to another farmer. Male offspring will be sold for profit. If the second offspring is also male, it will be sold and a worthy female will be bought and inseminated. In this way the project will improve the living conditions of at least 114 rural families.
What is Heifer's Mission?
Heifer International, a non-profit charitable organization based in Little Rock, Arkansas, is dedicated to relieving world hunger and to protect the earth. It provides gifts of animals and seedlings, as well as training in sustainable agriculture. The American farmer Dan West founded Heifers for Relief in 1944. West was distributing food to hungry children during the Spanish Civil War, when he realized: "These children don't need a cup they need a cow." West's philosophy for Heifers for Relief is based on the proverb, "Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; you have fed him for a lifetime." Heifer International received the 2006 Social Capitalist award from Fast Company magazine.
Old Ways, New Pain for Farms in Poland, NYTimes, April 2008
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