Proposed method for delimiting spatial structure on the example of agriculture types in Poland

Abstract

Abstract This work presents the results of research on the identification of types of Polish agriculture. Polish gminas (the third-order administrative division of the country sometimes referred to as “communes” or “municipalities”, until 2016 – according to Local Administrative Units – LAU level 2) have been divided into three types, characterised by low, medium or high levels of agricultural development, with 10 sub-types. A multi-stage typological procedure was used, employing two classification methods: k-mean cluster analysis and the random forest method. Twelve diagnostic attributes were used that comprehensively characterise Polish agriculture. The results show the diversity of this sector of the economy, which should be taken into account when planning its future development.