Far from the nightmare many predicted, the first year of EU membership has opened up new markets for Eastern European farmers, but also mired some in the EU's legendary red tape. Traditionally EU-sceptic farmers quickly found a solid footing in Europe's single agricultural market as cheese, butter and beef from Poland, the biggest new member, appeared on the shelves of Western shops within days of the European Union's enlargement into post-communist Europe last May. "We are about to begin selling our cottage cheese to Slovakia and Hungary. And there is also a chance we will enter the German market," said Zbigniew Kalinowski, a dairy manager in this small city 140 km (85 miles) north-east of Warsaw.
The dairy, one of the largest in the generally poor region, will spend about 10 million euros ($13.07 million) over the next three years to double production.
"Our suppliers invested heavily in upgrading their farms but now our sales are rising and they are happy because we can pay them a better price," Kalinowski added.
Elsewhere there has been some grumbling, particularly in Hungary where hundreds of farmers parked their tractors beside the ornate Parliament building in Budapest because of late payment of EU subsidies and problems caused by Hungary's huge grain surplus.
The delays in subsidy payouts cost the agriculture minister his job but the government said farmers had received more money since EU accession than in previous years, as did farmers elsewhere in the accession states.
According to EU statistics, Czech farmers doubled their incomes, Poland's biggest farmers boosted theirs by 75 percent, Estonian incomes rose 56 percent, Lithuanian 47 percent, Latvian 42 percent.
Slovak and Hungarian farmers boosted their incomes by around a third and in Slovenia by 14 percent, although national governments across the region said the estimates were exaggerated.
"Of course some are dissatisfied, but in general it was a very good year for farmers - many prices rose and new markets opened up," said Wanda Chmielewska-Gill, analyst at Poland's state-linked FAPA agriculture think-tank.
Talk in Poland's vast countryside, where 20 percent of the population lives but which accounts for only three percent of gross domestic product, has turned from staging protests and road blocks to wisely investing newly earned direct subsidies.
Poland's 1.4 million food producing households, many of which had to invest heavily to meet EU production norms, also received 5.9 billion zlotys ($1.84 billion) of direct payments under the EU's Common Agricultural Policy.
Exports of farm products jumped 30 percent in 2004 to 5.2 billion euros, giving Poland - the only major food producer of the 10 EU newcomers - an 800 million euro trade surplus in agriculture after years of running deficits.
"Farmers' worst fears have not materialised. Our strength is the taste and the quality of farm produce - our exports are rising and many farmers see improvement," said Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski, head of the Polish Farmers' Chamber.
EU membership was nothing short of a revolution for a large part of Poland's mainly small-plot, cash-based farmers, many of whom set up their first bank accounts to receive EU subsidies.
Under EU entry terms brokered with Brussels, direct payments received by farmers in the EU newcomers amounted to just 25 percent of the aid given to their western peers in 2004. This will gradually grow to 100 percent by 2013. Smooth distribution of EU aid also helped sway the farming community away from populist parties, which in the run-up to accession told horror stories of western foods flooding markets and foreigners buying up land.
Opinion polls carried out after accession found farmers to be EU enthusiasts, a stark contrast to earlier polls.
"We passed the accession exam, but there is a lot to be done. The exceptional year is over, now we need mental changes and a good agriculture policy to continue the reforms and find our place in the EU," said farm lobbyist Ardanowski.
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