The evolution of the agricultural sector in Central and East European countries after 12 years of membership in the EU on the example of Poland

Abstract

Accession to the European Union was one of more important factors determining the scale and rate of changes in the agricultural sector in Central and East European countries in the years 2004-2016. Actions of the European Union arising from the functioning of the Common Agricultural Policy and instruments associated therewith (mainly in the form of structural funds) provided the countries entering the Community after 2004 with a wide range of benefits. Those benefits included a reduction in the number of farms, an increase in the average size of farm, improvement of farm technical equipment, an increase in the exports of agricultural commodities, intensification of organic production, restructuring the markets for agricultural products and services, improvement of living conditions of rural population. The changes observed in the last 12 years did not have a uniform character or rate, which is associated with a distinct variety in level of social and economic development and in environmental conditions of the so-called eastern countries of the Old Continent, that is the

Development of agricultural farms in terms of Common Agricultural Policy support in the opinion of farmers

“…Poland's membership in the European Union has changed the economic conditions of Polish agriculture management (Chrzanowska M., 2017, Gazinski B., 2016, Kisiel R., Marks-Bielska R., 2007, Marks-Bielska R., et. al., 2011, Piecuch J., Paluch L., 2018. Prior to Poland's joining the EU, the national budget support for agriculture was inconsiderable, and in the first years of the transformation, namely in the 1990s, it hardly existed.…”

“…Despite visible deficiencies in some sectors, one must state that Poland's joining the EU and the Polish agriculture being covered by the CAP instruments have changed the conditions of agriculture operation significantly (Piecuch J., Paluch L., 2018, Roman M., Nuszkiewicz K., 2013. The membership in the European Union structures translates into an almost unlimited access to a vast consumer market, which is especially important for agricultural producers; it creates new opportunities of generating income due to the EU market size and CAP subsidies.…”