Biodiversity
SymBio Polska S. A.

Overview of the Symbio/Farmer Partnership

Executive Summary - Symbio is rapidly increasing the number of certified organic / ecological farms and hectares within a small geographic area. Symbio is training farmers for production of high valued fruits and vegetables; obtaining contracts with local and international processors and traders for production; and subcontracting local processing facilities for added value production.

Biodiversity - Symbio is protecting and enhancing biodiversity on and around its farms by concentrating on farms in environmentally valuable areas in and around Polish National and Landscape Parks. Symbio encourages farm management techniques to improve biodiversity and preserve the landscape.

Farm Level - General Description of Symbio's Farms - While 50% to 60% of the farms in Poland are peasants or semi-proletariats (they sell little if any of their product to the market for cash), the majority of Symbio's farmers are full-time and market oriented. Symbio's average farm size is 10 ha. We estimate that there are approximately 500,000 to 750,000 farms that may be converted to organic farms in Poland.

Symbio currently has over 250 farms under contract within 100 km of Lublin. There are several factors that ensure the vitality of Symbio's farmers within the Global Market:

The Global Organic/Ecological Industry has been growing at a rate of 24% over the past 8 years. Symbio leads its Polish farmer from a depressed conventional market to one of the fastest growing markets in the world.

Symbio contracts with farmers for higher valued products than the average farmer would normally produce. We are concentrating on labor-intensive vegetable and fruit production that have a higher value because they are more labor intensive, technically more difficult, and may be more expensive to grow.

In order to produce the higher valued products, Symbio has a comprehensive farmer support system:

1. November through December - Symbio conducts general meetings with all the farmers (about 25 people per meeting). These meetings last two full days. General lectures and discussions about organic agriculture: general production (soil fertility), ecological farming abroad, about the market and general contracts with the farmers. Issues of biodiversity are discussed, and general ways of improving biodiversity and the landscape are included in the lectures.
2. January - February - production meetings. In these meetings we discuss particulars of growing contracted products, onions, cauliflower, leeks, green beans, strawberries, blackcurrants etc. These meetings are organized by product and by region. Agronomists and professors from universities train farmers to grow products we contract.
3. March - Symbio's specialists meetings - where we train our agronomists.
4. Symbio's agronomists help with production of all the farms production, even if we do not contract for that product. The farmer has the opportunity to learn how to improve all crops, and thus improving the income of the farms.
5. Symbio is training its farmers on the micro-economy of their farm. We analyze the farm to determine costs of inputs and labor to determine sale prices.

Symbio is one of the few companies in Poland offering long-term contracts with the farmers. Symbio's production contracts are based on prices that minimize risks and help secure profits for the farmers. The more product
we contract, the more profit the farmers will make.

Symbio acts to pull together its farms by serving as one large buyer for organic fertilizers, plant-based pesticides, farm tools, and other farm inputs
to take advantage of economies of scale. For example, if a machine is too expensive for one farmer, Symbio purchases and leases the tool to many
of its farmers.

Symbio works to attract development funds that directly assist farmers. Development funds to protect the environment is how Symbio got started.

For these points above, Symbio's farmers have distinct advantages to prosper in our rapidly changing economic and political environment.

Downstream Polish Businesses

The rapid expansion of the production of organic farm products has already stimulated downstream Polish businesses. A large bakery and a pasta manufacturer are introducing an organic line. A conventional jam manufacturer is making plans
to use Symbio's organic strawberry production to develop a line of organic strawberry jam. Supermarkets are working with Symbio to make their offers to the health-conscious consumer. Foreign supermarkets are developing business models to process retail-level products near Symbio's farms.

Symbio expects this trend to accelerate as greater variety and volume of products is made available to downstream businesses.