Spatial diversification of situation of the organic farming in the polish voivodeships in the years 2010-2018

Abstract

The paper raises the problem of changes in situation of the organic farming in Poland. A set of features and indexes characterizing development or recession of the organic farms in individual voivodeships has been worked out. The authors used data for the years 2010-2018, made available in the Local Data Bank, and reports on the state of the organic farms in Poland. Quantitative and areal changes have been presented, concerning firstly the organic farms in relation to all farms as well as the agricultural area and, secondly, certified farms in relation to the organic farms. Using the arithmetic mean of synthetic indexes, the evaluation results have been compared to the synthetic index of usefulness for organic production which was worked out in the Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation (IUNG) in Pulawy. A diversification of the voivodeships has been presented in terms of recession or development of the organic farms. Regions have been also selected where the negative trend of the phenomenon is opposite to that indicated by advantageous conditions for the organic farming. Examples of such voivodeships are Silesian, Holy Cross or Lower Silesian. The performed analysis proves that an interest in the organic farming in Poland significantly decreased in recent years. One can find the recession of the organic farming in 10 voivodeships, even at the level of 30-65% in the Silesian, Holy Cross, Lesser Poland and Subcarpathia. The satisfactory development level of the organic farms through the recent 9 years has been stated only in three voivodeships: Lodz Province, Podlaskie, Warmian-Masurian.