The Church is among numerous groups trying to help Polish farmers find a new bridge between their fields, pastures and dairies to consumers.

In past years, marketing of the nation's farm products was coordinated centrally from Warsaw. Farmers were told what and how much to raise and where to sell. But when the government changed in 1989, that marketing system collapsed.The result is there is now no "middle man," no bridge between the producer and the consumer. An LDS team of experts, working on a humanitarian project through the Church's Welfare Services Division, is trying to figure out how to help the farmers process or sell their grains, fruits, vegetables, milk and meat products rather than have them waste in fields and barns or spoil in vendors' wagons.

Key figures on the LDS team are Dennis R. Lifferth, director of production/distribution in Church Welfare Services, and two associates, Gary B. Porter and M. Brent Chugg. They are members of an advisory team working with TechnoServe, a non-LDS, non-profit organization involved in humanitarian relief.

TechnoServe, based in Connecticut, was asked by a senator from Poland to help the farmers in the Tarnobrzeg district, some 200 miles south of Warsaw. After extensive studies, TechnoServe determined that the best way to help Poland's farmers would be the establishment of a resource center to advise them how to more effectively process and market their products.

Officials at TechnoServe, knowing of the Church's experience and success in managing small to mid-size food production and processing facilities, called on LDS Welfare Services to provide direction and training for those operating the resource center in Sandomierz, Poland.

"We welcomed the opportunity to contribute staff and other resources to this project," Brother Lifferth said. "We've worked with TechnoServe on several other projects in Africa and South America. As in other projects, we worked under the direction of TechnoServe on this project.

"We were assigned to work with local agricultural specialists from Poland in different sectors: dairy, livestock, and fruits and vegetables.

"Poland's farmers are facing some tremendous challenges. Farm prices have dropped below the costs of production. Processing plants are closing, unemployment is increasing.

"We met with many farmers and listened to them discuss their concerns. One said, `We used to have a market for our milk and now we don't. What has happened? The price we get for our milk doesn't cover the cost of production, let alone the transportation costs to get it here. Everything is so unstable we don't know if we should buy more cows or sell the ones we have.' "

They observed that farmers are trying to function under an inefficient system. A farmer in the Tarnobrzeg District who tries to earn an income from dairy products, for example, has one to two cows, which he milks by hand. The average annual production per cow is 2,870 liters. Two-thirds of the milk is consumed or sold at the farm; the other third goes to market. It is not efficient or economically feasible to ship such a small amount.

The farmer puts cans of milk in water troughs or wells to keep them cool until they are picked up by a man from the village who hauls them to one of 144 assembly points in the district. The milk is then hauled to one of seven of the district's milk processing plants.

Brother Lifferth pointed out that one milk plant in the district receives about the same amount of milk as is received at Welfare Square in Salt Lake City. However, Welfare Square receives milk from three dairies; the milk plant in Poland receives milk from 4,000 farmers, each of whom has a farm of only a few acres. Milk, usually transported on horse-drawn wagons, often spoils before it reaches the consumer.

Similar problems are faced in the marketing of other farm products. "Tarnobrzeg District has six vegetable processing plants," Brother Chugg said. "Four are state owned and two are privately owned. One plant has been idle for four months awaiting a prospective buyer. All the plants are operating at less than full capacity and do not have adequate operating capital to produce finished goods or purchase raw products. They have high-cost inventories that are difficult to sell and poor quality that will not allow them to compete in the export market."

Brother Porter said, "Livestock producers have little or no influence in the processing or marketing of beef and pork. Many plants are closing, competition for animals is lessening, and prices are falling."

The Welfare Services representatives made two trips to Poland, one in July and another in September. Mindful of Church welfare policy to help people help themselves, they went not to solve the farmers' problems but to help farmers figure out how to solve their own problems.

"TechnoServe has a similar approach that we have," Brother Lifferth noted.

He and Brothers Chugg and Porter teamed up with local residents and agricultural specialists to focus on the problems closest to the farmers.

"It was a great opportunity for the three of us to go over and work with these people," Brother Lifferth said. "We found the people to be gracious and kind. They were grateful for any help or assistance they might receive. They all seem to have hope for the future.

"When I met with them early in the morning at their milk receiving station, I automatically felt for their struggles. I come from a family of farmers who worked long hours and struggled to make ends meet. I know the hardships. For me, there was a feeling of brotherhood. I understood some of their struggles and wanted to be able to provide some help for them.

"The help does not need to be sophisticated. It doesn't have to come from complex governmental systems. The answer doesn't lie in bricks and mortar alone. Sometimes, an encouraging word or a few suggestions get them on the right track.

"The first questions we asked ourselves as a team were, `Do we have anything to offer? Is the problem so complex that there's nothing we can do?' The more we worked, the more we realized the solutions are very basic. They don't necessarily require a lot of money. A lot of good will come from people helping people.

"When we left, we felt encouraged that there are many things people can do to help Poland.

"While we were there, I had an awareness of the great concern our prophet and other leaders have for all of mankind, not just members of the Church. We are members of the same family, the family of the human race. We have a responsibility to help all in need.

"I kept thinking of portions of the 13th Article of Faith, that we believe in being benevolent and in doing good to all men. I was reminded of Alma's account of how the people of the Church cared for the poor among them, whether they were members of the Church or not. (Alma 1:26-27, 30.) The work the Savior wants us to do isn't just to care for our own, but to care for all our brothers and sisters.

"Members should be assured and aware that when they go to a Church cannery to process food, that the food goes not only to other members but also to people who are not members of the Church who are in need. When members work on a Church farm to harvest tomatoes or whatever crop, they should know that the crop will help people in need. When members contribute to the Church's humanitarian services fund, they help many people, whether those people are homeless families in Denver or farmers in the Tarnobrzeg District of Poland. They're providing in the Lord's own way."