TRAPPED IN THE GREY ZONES

Based on ethnographic research in Eastern Poland, this article deals with coping and resistance strategies in the context of present Polish agricultural policies. The author endeavours to show how Polish agricultural policy including the implementation of EU agricultural regulations force farmers to function in the grey economy. This in turn forms a (largely) politically muted group of people who are alienated not only from what they produce but also distanced from consumers and the state as  imagined recipients of their goods. This has resulted in farmers employing numerous discursive and practical strategies in order to voice their discontent, cope and resist state mechanisms regulating farming.