gruuna

Agriculture at the borders of Germany

Reindeer and fallow deer from Poland

The term „breeding farm” reminds most people of a traditional farm where cows and pigs are bred. But there are more and more farms making use of a niche market and concentrating on breeding exotic animals such as bison, alpaca, crosses between house pigs and wild boars or even reindeer.
In Poland a farm in Czelin breeds fallow deer and reindeer. gruuna spoke to farmer Bartosz Woźniak about his special type of business, using the internet and what the European Union means to him.

Bartosz, how long has your farm existed?
In the way it is run now, the farm has existed for four years now. Before that my dad bred fallow deer for a few years. So together we have already got more than ten years of experience.

_Why did you decide to go ahead with breeding for a niche market? _
The main reason was the fact that breeding traditional animals is not viable most of the time and depends a lot on fluctuation in the economic market. There are better years and worse years and the amount of work needed is much more compared to the breeding of our animals. With our breed, knowledge and experience are more important.
The amount of physical labour involved is not as intensive. Anyway, we do it because we love it and we really like those animals. This type of breeding suits our way of life.

Is it complicated running such an exotic agricultural company?
That depends on the animal. Fallow deer and moufflon are not demanding when it comes to food. Hay or forage is enough together with a little concentrated feed. With reindeer it’s a bit more complicated because you need special animal feed which has to be imported from Scandinavia because its components only grow in this region and climate.

Poland is a member of the European Union. What does this mean to you?
We receive regular payments directly and payments for special environment-friendly agricultural procedures. For us this means a healthy injection of money every year. With the prices for selling products or animals today, you could not expect to run a viable business without help. We have not yet applied for a grant for some projects, as it was difficult for us to pin down our exact needs at the beginning. First we want to see in what direction our business develops. This year we want to make use of a grant for modernising as well as a programme which includes the non agricultural work involved. We want to develop an infrastructure for tourists and lead our business in the direction of agricultural tourism. There is enormous potential here.

Does the internet help you run your farm?
I cannot imagine how the farm would be run without the internet. I see my job not as your typical agricultural job, more as the business management of an agricultural company. And to run a modern business you need the internet for communicating with potential customers as well as running your own website. We have a blog where we talk about what is happening or events that are important to us –and we give tips to other breeders. We have found 90% of our contacts for sales and other fields of business this way.

Do you only use the Polish market or do you also use the foreign market?
Our farm is near the German-Polish border and thanks to the European Union and free movement of goods and people we can use this. We have many business partners in Germany. Very good knowledge of the language helps and is very important in such business ventures. Maybe we will add other countries to our list of customers, as not so long ago we had an online inquiry from Lithuania. Mainly the fact that there are no customs clearances and borders anymore and that also the veterinary documentation was made simpler makes dealing with international partners easier. And of course we like to use them.

Is there a lot of competition for niche market agricultural businesses like yours?
It all depends on the type of business. At the moment there is a lot of competition from fallow deer breeders. If you only concentrate on one breed there might be difficulties in the future for your business. We decided to diversify – breeding fallow deer is only one part of our business. This is how we want to protect our business against the competition. It is important to find your own way to be very good at something and to produce your own unique brand. There are many producers who only offer one product. They are too similar. It is better to breed different types of animals, invest in tourism and offer other services (for example hiring out your animals for parties). We are trying to build something special around the niche production of our farm, and then it will not be so easy for the competition to copy our farm.

What do you think? Is it viable to find you own niche with exotic animals? Or is it better to concentrate on traditional breeding? Please write to us with your opinion.