Marta Czekaj

The aim of the study was to identify the socio-economic and structural characteristics associated with the expectations of dairy farms regarding support provided by dairy cooperatives. The research was conducted in 2025 using a questionnaire-based interview method among 768 purposively selected farms keeping dairy cattle and cooperating with dairy cooperatives. The study examined relationships between the declared interest in receiving support from the dairy cooperative and selected socio-demographic, economic, and production-related characteristics of farms, as well as farmers’ opinions regarding their current situation and development prospects. The relationships were assessed using Pearson’s χ test, Cramér’s V coefficient, Welch’s t-test, and Cohen’s d effect size measure. The results indicate statistically significant relationships between the declared expectation of support and selected farm characteristics; however, the observed effects were generally weak or moderate. Support was more frequently expected by farms managed by younger farmers, farms with a designated successor, farms with a more positive assessment of their ability to continue dairy production and their income situation, as well as farms using larger areas of leased land and employing more permanent workers. The observed relationships were more frequently associated with assessments of farm development prospects than with their production resources. The findings suggest that interest in support from dairy cooperatives is associated with the declared development orientation of farms. However, due to the purposive sampling method and the nature of the applied analyses, the results should be interpreted with caution and should not be regarded as evidence of causal relationships.

Cel pracy: Celem głównym opracowania była ocena kierunku przemian strukturalnych zachodzących w rolnictwie i na obszarach wiejskich. Dokonując jej, bazowano na opiniach pozyskanych od pracowników państwowych i prywatnych służb doradczych. Metoda badawcza: Materiały źródłowe pozyskano w trakcie badań ankietowych obejmujących swoim zasięgiem osiem województw południowo-wschodniej Polski. Do analizy zakwalifikowano odpowiedzi od 148 respondentów. Do analizy wyników użyto metody statystyki opisowej, a rezultaty zaprezentowano w formie tabelarycznej.Kluczowe wyniki: Bazując na informacjach pozyskanych z przeglądu literatury oraz wynikach prowadzonych badań, należy stwierdzić, że zachodzące przemiany prowadzą do stopniowej polaryzacji gospodarstw rolnych – co zostało zauważone przez respondentów. Wysoka jest dostępność wspólnotowych instrumentów finansowych wsparcia rolnictwa i obszarów wiejskich. Otwarcie rynków Unii Europejskiej (UE) na polskie produkty spożywcze pozwala na poprawę sytuacji dochodowej producentów rolnych. Wyraźnie dostrzegany był też finansowy wymiar akcesji do UE. Poza poprawą dochodowości (części) gospodarstw rolnych zauważono również wzrost jakości życia na obszarach wiejskich. Ankietowani zwrócili uwagę na dystans rozwojowy pomiędzy obszarami podlegającymi zjawisku suburbanizacji a pozostałą częścią wsi – szczególnie tych oddalonych od regionalnych i lokalnych centrów rozwoju. Zdaniem doradców pozytywne zmiany zachodzące w środowiskach wiejskich w ciągu 20 lat po akcesji przeważały nad negatywnymi.Główne wnioski: Procesy integracyjne przyczyniły się do zmian strukturalnych w rolnictwie i na obszarach wiejskich. Otwarcie rynków UE na polskie produkty rolno-spożywcze w połączeniu z modernizacją przemysłu spożywczego zapewniło poprawę sytuacji dochodowej producentów rolnych. Mimo pozytywnej oceny wpływu funduszy europejskich na rozwój infrastruktury podkreślono, że bez aktywizacji potencjału endogenicznego trudno będzie zapewnić trwały i zrównoważony rozwój terytorialny. Jednocześnie wskazano na potrzebę bardziej efektywnego wykorzystania instrumentów polityki strukturalnej w celu długofalowego wzmacniania konkurencyjności obszarów wiejskich.

Farmers’ investment decisions can shape their capacity to implement practices consistent with sustainable development objectives. The article identifies the declarative structure of investment decisions on Polish dairy farms based on a survey and diverse theoretical frameworks (resource-based view, institutional approach, real options theory, behavioural theory, and the theory of planned behaviour). The purpose is to identify the determinants of the extent and structure of declared agricultural investments. The authors determined the relationships between declared investments and groups of variables and identified investment axes and interdependencies. Investment decision predictions are founded on logistic regression, an SEM model for relationship structuring, and residual correlation analysis for mapping relationships and evaluating the correlation demasking effect, according to which raw correlations between investment axes may hide underlying residual associations between them. We found that declared farmland investments were associated with milk production volume and appeared to be linked to long-term farm development objectives. The respondents became less keen on investing in livestock production as they aged, whereas older farmers showed a greater propensity to undertake energy-related investments. These results suggest that farmers’ declared investment intentions may be consistent with conditions conducive to achieving sustainable development objectives through their potential association with farm viability, resource-use efficiency, and rural economic development. Our findings may have potential policy relevance by informing the design of public measures aimed at strengthening farms’ adaptive capacity in the context of sustainability transitions.

The primary objective of this study was to present and assess the effects of direct payments and other subsidies targeted at dairy farms under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) guidelines implemented in 2014–2023 on their financial performance and changes in equity. To narrow the focus on the research problem, the scope of the analysis was limited to dairy farms from the five EU countries with the highest milk production. To achieve this objective, the study employed economic measures and indicators used to evaluate the resources and outcomes of agricultural activity. The empirical material used in the analysis consisted of farm-level accounting data collected within the European Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN). The results indicate that direct payments and other subsidies had a very substantial impact on farm income in the analysed countries. The average share of direct payments in dairy farm income in 2014–2023 in the five analysed EU countries ranged from 19.7% in Italy to 88.4% in France. Without direct payments, the average dairy farm would have incurred financial losses from its activity during periods of unfavourable economic conditions on the milk market. The new model for distributing direct payments and other subsidies introduced in 2023, whose main modification compared with the previous system was a stronger alignment of direct payments with environmental objectives, did not result in substantial changes in either the level of payments or their impact on dairy farms’ financial performance. In 2023, the average payment per hectare of agricultural land in the analysed farms amounted to EUR 461.34, which was EUR 19.88 less than in 2022.

Most Polish commercial dairy farms have expanded their production in recent years through herd increases and milk yield improvements. This study investigates internal and external drivers shaping farmers’ decisions regarding the future scale of milk production on family farms in Poland. The analysis is based on two sources of data. The primary input comes from a survey conducted in 2025 among 549 commercial dairy farms. To situate individual responses within a broader structural context, accounting data from 444 farms that continuously reported to the Polish FADN between 2005 and 2022 were used. Although not central to the analysis, these data illustrate long-term sectoral developments, particularly herd enlargement and resource concentration. The survey demonstrated a diversity of drivers shaping decisions to expand or stabilise milk production in the next five years. Farmers’ individual characteristics play a central role. The farmer’s perceived health and work ability (5-year horizon), as well as the availability of a successor, strongly influence the willingness to expand or maintain milk production levels. Other important factors include tangible resources, organisational capacity, and financial strength, such as herd size, agricultural land area, and investment capacity. This highlights the role of production potential and farm adaptability. External conditions such as land access, lease prices, and the market environment are not decisive by themselves but provide the background against which farmers evaluate their options. The study confirms that no single factor drives changes in dairy farms. What matters most is how farmers configure and align their available resources with external circumstances. The ability to combine human, physical, and financial capital in a coherent and strategic way is essential for shaping production strategies and ensuring the continuity of farm operations.

The spatial specialization of milk production in Poland has been an ongoing process for many years. This specialization is associated with the concentration of processing activities, whereas the consumption of milk is not regionally determined, but instead directly reflects the number of consumers. The main objective of this study was to examine the regional capacity for milk procurement by processing entities, its consumption by local populations, and how these factors compare with regional production capabilities. The analysis draws on data from 2005 and the years 2018-2022 provided by the Central Statistical Office, covering milk production, consumption, and processing volumes at the voivodeship level in Poland. The analysis confirms the concentration of milk production in three voivodeships: Podlaskie, Mazowieckie, and Wielkopolskie. However, it also provides new insight into the situation of milk producers in these regions. In both the Mazowieckie and Wielkopolskie voivodeships, the volume of milk purchased by local dairies was lower than the volume produced by farms, implying that a portion of the milk had to be sold to processors located in other voivodeships. In contrast, the Podlaskie Voivodeship was in a relatively favorable position for milk producers: the production volume was lower than the volume of milk purchased by dairies but still exceeded local consumption. A comparison of the data from 2005 and 2018 indicates that only in the Lubuskie Voivodeship was there a shift in the milk producers’ position within the “comfort matrix” – from a state of relative discomfort to a more favorable position in the “milk producer’s comfort zone”.

Income level is a key indicator of the standard of living and the economic efficiency of undertaken activities. This paper aims to evaluate the earnings of Polish dairy farmers compared to those in other economic sectors between 2005 and 2022. The analysis covered 1688 family-run farms that participated continuously in the FADN system throughout the study period, with particular emphasis on farms that expanded their dairy cow herds. The remuneration for the labour of farmers and their families was estimated ex post by subtracting the opportunity costs of owned land and capital from farm income. The alternative cost of engaging one’s own land was determined on the basis of actual rental prices for farmland occurring in the surveyed farm groups in the years analysed. This information is collected in the FADN system from which the studied group of farms was drawn. The basis for determining the alternative cost of involvement of own capital was the average interest rates on deposits for households, concluded for a period of 6 months to 1 year inclusive, reported by the National Bank of Poland. The analysed population was divided into seven groups based on the number of dairy cows maintained. The analysis focused on two three-year reference periods: 2005–2007 and 2020–2022. The results were compared with average salaries and wages in non-agricultural sectors of the economy. Structural changes in agriculture, increased productivity, and the expansion of production scale in dairy farms indicate a growing professionalisation of the sector. The rise in farm incomes during the analysed period contributed to a significant increase in the remuneration for farmers’ and their families’ labour. The highest growth in remuneration was observed among farms with the greatest production potential and scale. While in 2005–2007 the remuneration for labour in dairy farms was lower than in non-agricultural sectors, this situation changed in 2020–2022. During this latter period, the average remuneration for labour on dairy farms slightly exceeded the average salary and wages in other sectors of the economy.

This study stems from a participatory foresight exercise conducted in nine Mediterranean, Baltic, Nordic and Eastern European regions, aiming to strengthen the role of small farms and small food businesses in ensuring food security. A wide range of stakeholders participated by attending workshops. They represented farmers’ organisations, food businesses, consumers’ organisations, NGOs, researchers, extension services, professional groups, and administration and public bodies. The actions proposed by participants are scanned and categorised around six broad objectives, stakeholders’ priorities and their underlying beliefs and preconceptions are discussed around the current debates of the literature, and the drivers that influence the feasibility of the proposed actions are discussed. Furthermore, the alignment of stakeholders’ -driven objectives with the European Strategies on food, agriculture, and rural areas is examined, with a focus on: (i) the EU Farm to Fork Strategy, (ii) the Rural Action Plan contained in the Long-Term Vision of Rural Areas developed by the EU Commission, and (iii) the Common Agricultural Policy in force since January 2023.