THE IMPORTANCE OF SMALL FARMS PRODUCING IN AN ECOLOGICAL SYSTEM IN POLAND

Abstract

The authors assessed the functioning of small farms conducting production using an ecological system. The analyzes were performed for small organic farms with supported organic production under the CAP. They were compared to small conventional farms from the same communes. The source of the materials was data from the IJHARS reports for 2004-2022, ARiMR for 2022 and Polish FADN for 2022. It was found that in Poland, in the structure of organic farms, farms with an area of up to 10 ha of agricultural land are of great importance. Small farms with supported organic production under the CAP exist in 1,345 communes, and in about 32% of these communes there is only one such farm. It was found that there is a large variation in the occurrence of small farms benefiting from support for organic production under the CAP among municipalities. However, the distribution of small farms benefiting from subsidies in a given commune was not related to the number of these farms. It has been shown that in the current conditions of development of organic production, there must be sufficiently high financial support for agricultural producers to be interested in running production using an ecological system.