Agriculture in Poland is characterized by a significant fragmentation of farms, a high

number of employed, the advantage of soils with medium and low agricultural
usefulness, as well as a relatively low consumption of industrial means of production.
Despite this, Poland is a significant producer in the world and Europe of a number of
agricultural, horticultural and animal products.

Natural conditions affecting the development of agriculture in our country are

primarily: climatic conditions (temperature, sunlight, winds, rainfall), soil conditions,
water conditions, surface formation, In turn, non-natural conditions affecting the
development of our agriculture are: agricultural policy of the state, agrarian structure,
fertilization, farmer's qualifications, level of agricultural culture, drainage, use of plant
protection products, mechanization of agriculture, use of new fertile varieties.

Poland is also one of the leading producers of berry fruit, mainly strawberries,
raspberries and currants, as well as one of the largest producers of onions, cabbage,
cauliflowers and apples. Poland belongs to countries with high biodiversity and is
characterized by diversity of natural habitats and landscapes. A significant proportion
of farmers, especially those with small farms, produce by traditional methods, devoting
them mainly to self-supply of their own families.

Animal production is carried out mostly at low farming intensity, which contributes to
environmental cleanliness. Soil and climate conditions and traditions in individual
regions determine the specialization of production. The areas of central, eastern and
northern Poland are areas of potato and rye cultivation and grassland. Orchards and
berry fruit plantations are located in Mazovia, in the Lublin Province, in the
Sandomierz region, as well as in Greater Poland and the Łódź Province.

In the years before the integration with the EU, the low profitability of agricultural
production and difficulties in selling products produced on farms caused the
phenomenon of set-aside and fallow of agricultural land. According to the Agricultural
Census conducted in 2002, a total of 2.3 million ha of arable land was set aside and
fallow, which accounted for 17.6% of their total area.

In 2004, the area of fallow and fallow land was reduced to 1.3 million ha, which is
largely associated with the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy in
Poland. Obtaining direct payments, conditioned by the maintenance of land in
agricultural culture, and the possibility of obtaining funds from structural funds for the
development of farms, helps to improve the rationalization of agricultural economy.

Limitation of plant production and unfavorable relations of prices of agricultural

products caused a systematic decrease in the share of agriculture in GDP. However, in
2004, due to the periodic - immediately after integration - increase in prices in
agriculture, the share of agriculture in national income increased.

A characteristic feature of Polish agriculture is also the large diversity in the size of
farms: from one hectare to several thousand hectares. The latter occur in both the
private and public sectors. The largest farms were established on the basis of former
state-owned farms. The problem of farm fragmentation occurs only in the family farms
sector, which in 2004 was 1852 thousand. The average size of an individual farm is 7.5
ha, with a large regional diversity. In the south of Poland, the average farm has 3.3 ha,
in the north-west over 20 ha. In 2000, there were 6.7 million farms in 15 EU countries,
most in Italy (over 2 million), Spain (almost 1.3 million), Greece (about 800 thousand)
and France (666 thousand).