Distribution of farms

that fulfill the selected sustainability criteria

One of the characteristics of the Polish agriculture is agricultural dispersion which is reflected in large number of small farms. The dispersion is not favorable for sustainable farming, in particular it does not ensure proper income for agricultural families and significant share of farms focuses more on own needs (natural consumption) than on market needs, it eliminates the need of animal breeding.

First we have to determine the number of farms which fulfill the five criteria of environment and production sustainability (abbreviated: sustainable farms), farms using the Norfolk crop rotation (abbreviated: Norfolk), non-inventory farms and subsistence farms. The determined group of farms is not disjoint. Contrary, they overlap each other (table 1).

Table 1. Crossing of sizes of specified groups of farms (percent)

Item Total Sustainable Norfolk

Non-inventory Subsistence

Total 100,0 100,0 100,0 100,0 100,0

Sustainable 1,6 100,0 10,0 0,6 1,4

Norfolk 2,1 12,9 100,0 0,4 2,3

Non-inventory 37,4 14,4 7,0 100,0 37,4

Subsistence 41,0 35,7 44,6 41,1 100

Table 2. The number of individual farms by specified groups and voivodships (T) Individual farms

Details

Total Sustainable Norfolk

Non-inventory Subsistence

Polska 2 472,8 40,1 51,6 925,6 1 015,0

dolnośląskie 115,3 1,8 0,1 58,7 44,0

kujawsko-pomorskie 101,1 2,7 1,2 31,4 28,9

lubelskie 279,4 5,8 3,0 104,3 93,5

lubuskie 45,1 0,4 0,1 21,0 21,0

łódzkie 182,0 1,3 1,4 58,1 52,6

małopolskie 312,7 6,0 17,6 107,2 186,8

mazowieckie 317,5 2,2 4,6 128,7 80,0

opolskie 59,9 1,0 0,0 21,4 25,1

podkarpackie 273,4 11,0 7,1 92,2 179,4

podlaskie 110,3 0,6 4,7 36,6 29,3

pomorskie 62,7 0,8 1,3 24,1 23,8

śląskie 185,5 1,0 3,1 90,5 103,1

świętokrzyskie 132,1 2,6 2,7 41,5 51,8

warmińsko-mazurskie 63,1 0,7 3,5 23,2 23,5

wielkopolskie 177,9 1,6 0,8 57,8 50,4

zachodniopomorskie 54,9 0,5 0,4 28,9 21,9 The number of individual farms by distinguished groups and voivodships is shown in table 2. The analysis does not include the organic farms the number of which is quite insignificant to date (in 2005 – 4 thousand, currently approximately 8 thousand). These farms are concentrated in voivodships characterized by a significant number of individual farms and attractive in terms of natural conditions. In four voivodships: małopolskie (725 of organic farms), świętokrzyskie (543), lubelskie (480) and podkarpackie (429) 54% of all organic

farms are located. The characteristics of these farms are included the previous report ²⁴.

The data of table 2 confirm the supposition on results of the agricultural dispersion. The number of farms orientated towards subsistence – i.e. more than a half of the production is intended for natural consumption – exceeded one million of farms (41% of the total of individual farms maintaining the agricultural activity). Also significant is the number of non-inventory farms – it exceeded 900 thousand (37,4%). It implicates significant changes of the agricultural production organization. The so-called „krowa-żywicielka” ("cow-feeder") becomes a thing of the past − more and more farms cease to hold the stock animals. The economic factors play an important role in this field – small-scale breeding is not economical. Also everyday inconveniences, the need of time and supervision are inseparable from farm activities. The number of Norfolk farms and sustainable farms amounts to, respectively, 51,6 and 40,1 thousand, i.e. 2,1 and 1,6% of the total number of farms. Indeed, the share is not significant. However, if expressed in absolutes, they become quite large numbers.

The subsistence farms are most numerous in regions characterized by high degree of dispersion: podkarpackie and małopolskie. In these voivodships there are 366 thousand of subsistence farms, i.e. 36% of the total of such farms. These numbers would even reach respectively 470 thousand and 46% if the śląskie voivodship was included.

The non-inventory farms are placed a little bit more evenly at the regional level. The ranking of voivodships looks also slightly different. In the first three voivodships: mazowieckie, małopolskie and lubelskie there are 340 thousand non-inventory farms located, i.e. almost 37% of the total of such farms.

Remarkably, the Norfolk farms are concentrated in małopolskie voivodship (34% of such farms). At the other extremity there are post-PGR farm (former state farms) voivodships, where the frequency of such farms is marginal.

The farms matching the environmental and production sustainability criteria (i.e. farms called sustainable) are distributed more evenly at the regional level, however podkarpackie voivodship is predominant in this regard (28% of all such farms).

Obviously, the frequency of individual farms differs significantly between voivodships (due to size of agricultural land, area structure). Therefore it seems to be justified to compare the frequency of selected groups of farms to the total

24 Praca zbior. pod red. J.St. Zegara, Z badań nad rolnictwem społecznie zrównoważonym (2), Program Wieloletni 2005-2006, zeszyt 30 (Research on Socially Sustainable Agriculture, Multi-Annual Programme 2005-2006, book 30), IERiGŻ-PIB, Warszawa 2006.

number of farms in particular voivodships. The subsistence farms predominate (>50% of the total number of farms) in regions where agriculture is dispersed:

podkarpackie, małopolskie and śląskie. The smallest share of such farms (25-29%) was observed in voivodships with relatively better-developed peasant's (family) agriculture or less developed non-agricultural labor market and with more difficult access to place of work. The first group includes:

wielkopolskie, kujawsko-pomorskie and łódzkie, the second: podlaskie. This group also includes mazowieckie voivodship.

The non-inventory farms predominate in zachodniopomorskie and dolnośląskie. Their share is the same large as in other post-PGR voivodships.

However, in any case it does not fall below 30%.

The share of Norfolk farms is the highest in voivodships substantially disparate: małopolskie, warmińsko-mazurskie and podlaskie. Similarly, it refers to marginal share of Norfolk farms in dolnośląskie, lubuskie and zachodniopomorskie as well as śląskie, podlaskie, mazowieckie, łódzkie and wielkopolskie.

The table 2 and map 1 presents distribution of frequency of sustainable farms, which means that they match all the 5 environmental and production sustainability criteria. Particular criteria are fulfilled by different number of farms. The easiest to comply with is the livestock per agricultural area criterion – in only 3% of farms the livestock exceeded 2 SD. It means that natural fertilization in these farms exceeded 170 kg of nitrogen per 1 ha UR. It may suggest that approximately 60 thousand farms holding 15% of livestock (SD), including 6% of livestock of cattle and 16% of livestock of pigs, are non- compliant with the requirements of the Nitrate Directive.

The farms which do not match the SD/UR criterion are relatively smaller in terms of their area. Some of them has only a small farming center or modest agricultural area and hold a large number of livestock, in particular pigs and poultry. Therefore these farms were characterized by holding large livestock. The farms with lack of agricultural areas and simultaneously with large number of livestock, seriously threaten the environment as practically no fertilizers turnover is observed (including market turnover and cooperation between neighbors). This in turn translates into the point threat to the environment caused by overproduction of nitrate by 3% of farms characterized by intense animal production. Simultaneously these farms are the strongest in economic terms (tab. 3).

Map 1. Share of sustainable, Norfolk, non-inventory and subsistence farms^a by