ORGANIC FARMING IN POLAND IN THE LIGHT OF MULTIVARIATE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

Organic farming is an environmentally-friendly production system, which has been dynamically developing since 2004. The study attempts to conduct a spatial assessment of the development of this management method. The analysis covered data at the level of voivodships, originating from GIJHARS1 and from the Central Statistical Office (GUS) from 2014, concerning producers respecting the production in the environmentally-friendly system. They include characteristics such as: average surface area, proportion of the area of arable lands, number of processing plants, production volume of: milk, cereals, vegetables, and fruit. The analysis uses the method of linear ordering of a set of objects, based on the created synthetic variable. The results of the study suggest that Polish voivodships are generally characterised by an average or low level of development of organic farming. A positive phenomenon is observed in the fact that organic farming develops in voivodships with a more fragmented agrarian structure.