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STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN POLISH AGRICULTURE AND RURAL AREAS FOLLOWING THE ACCESSION TO THE UE

Jadwiga Konieczna

Abstract

Both rural areas and agriculture related to them serve a crucial role in shaping the economic growth and social development of the country. Structural changes occurring in Polish agriculture are determined by numerous factors of an external and internal nature. One of the major ones is the agricultural policy pursued by the state. Economic and social changes taking place in Poland after 1989 posed new challenges to Polish economy, including agriculture and the countryside. They are associated with a deep restructuring and modernisation of the agricultural sector, and with the elimination of civilisational backwardness found in rural areas. Another powerful impetus behind the acceleration of changes was the prospect of future European Union membership. After Poland?s accession to the EU, it was the common agricultural policy that became an important tool stimulating structural changes in rural areas. The launched programmes of the development of rural areas as well as the financial resources allocated to agriculture in the form of e.g. direct payments trigger a series of changes in agriculture. Structural changes are a phenomenon which can be characterised through an analysis of a number of factors e.g. an increase in the farm size, specialisation of farms, the level of employment in agriculture, or the share in generating the GDP. The article analyses changes which have occurred in Polish agriculture since 2004 i.e. following the accession to the EU as well as the relationships between the EU financial aid and structural changes.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgem2018/2.2/s09.123

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