The Main Features of the Agricultural Crisis in Poland in the Years 1929-1935

Abstract

The agricultural crisis in Poland in 1929-1935 was more severe and prolonged than in other sectors of the economy. Contemporary economists debated whether it was a cyclical crisis tied to industrial fluctuations or a chronic structural crisis rooted in long-term disturbances of supply and demand. The interaction of both types of crisis in Poland, given its specific agrarian structure, has not been systematically synthesized.

This article examines the main features of the agricultural crisis in Poland in 1929-1935, analyzing the fall in grain prices, the role of agrarian structure in determining agricultural resilience, the scissors of prices between agricultural and industrial products, the shift to natural economy, and the consequences of deflationary policies for the profitableness of agricultural output.

The study draws on published statistics of the Central Statistical Office, agricultural census data, contemporary periodicals (Rolnik Ekonomista, Życie Rolnicze), and specialized studies by Klarner, Runowicz, Ciepielewski, Rose, and Landau.

The analysis shows that the agricultural crisis combined chronic structural features - rooted in an agrarian structure dominated by small farm holdings, surplus population, and low commercialization - and cyclical factors tied to the world economic depression. According to King's rule, even a small fall in demand caused a sharp fall in grain prices. The scissors of prices widened to exceptional levels in Poland. Many peasant farms shifted to natural economy to avoid cash expenditure. Deflationary policies were particularly harmful to small holdings. Middlemen operations' extravagant costs further reduced producers' income - the agricultural producer's share in the retail price did not exceed 60 per cent. The result was a fall in the profitableness of agricultural output and a decline of land prices and productive capital in agriculture.