Spatial Diversification of Situation of the Organic Farming in the Polish Voivodeships in the Years 2010–2018

The paper raises the problem of changes in situation of the organic farming in Poland. A set of features and indexes characterizing development or recession of the organic farms in individual voivodeships has been worked out. The authors used data for the years 2010–2018, made available in the Local Data Bank, and reports on the state of the organic farms in Poland. Quantitative and areal changes have been presented, concerning firstly the organic farms in relation to all farms as well as the agricultural area and, secondly, certified farms in relation to the organic farms. Using the arithmetic mean of synthetic indexes, the evaluation results have been compared to the synthetic index of usefulness for organic production which was worked out in the Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation (IUNG) in Pulawy. A diversification of the voivodeships has been presented in terms of recession or development of the organic farms. Regions have been also selected where the negative trend of the phenomenon is opposite to that indicated by advantageous conditions for the organic farming. Examples of such voivodeships are Silesian, Holy Cross or Lower Silesian. The performed analysis proves that an interest in the organic farming in Poland significantly decreased in recent years. One can find the recession of the organic farming in 10 voivodeships, even at the level of 30–65% in the Silesian, Holy Cross, Lesser Poland and Subcarpathia. The satisfactory development level of the organic farms through the recent 9 years has been stated only in three voivodeships: Lodz Province, Podlaskie, Warmian-Masurian.


INTRODUCTION
The origins of the organic farming date back to 1920s. In that time the Polish workers knew about the alternative methods of farming owing to the count and countess von Keyserling who introduced in their farm a biodynamic method developed by Dr Steiner [Duda-Krynicka and Jaskólecki 2010]. However, 1984 is recognized as the beginning of the eco-agricultural movement in Poland. From the very onset, it was such form of farming which had to benefit not only farmers but, first of all, consumers and the environment. Thus, the development of farms promoting ecological cultivation and breeding became the subject of research [Zegar 2009].
In the source literature, the items presenting diversification in the development pace of the organic farms in various regions of the world, Europe and Poland can be found [Runowski 2009, Ligenzowska 2014, Drabarczyk and Wrzesińska-Kowal 2015, Golik and Żmija 2017]. Of course, it is affected, i.a. by the environmental conditions, natural quality of the agricultural space as well as financial aspects of the organic farming and market of ecological products [Kowalska 2010]. The majority of authors limit themselves to the quantitative characteristics [Komorowska 2007, Drabarczyk and Wrzesińska-Kowal 2015, Golik and Żmija 2017, Raport...] and tries to analyze it with the use of graphical methods (e.g. Lorentz's concentration curve) or analytical ones (Gini's coefficient) [Makowska et al. 2015]. It must be emphasized as well that many works concern the situation in Poland [Komorowska 2007]. The spatial characteristics are presented mostly in relation to the voivodeships, rarely in relation to smaller units, as counties [Kacprzak andKołodziejczak 2011, Dąbkowski andPodawca 2017].
Till 2013, one can distinguish three periods in the development of the organic farming in Poland. Till 1999, when a financial support of that farming system did not exist, there were few of such farms -only 555, most of which were localized in the Holy Cross, Lublin and Mazovia voivodeships, while the least in the Kuyavia-Pomerania, Subcarpathia and Opole [Komorowska 2007]. When the payments for ecological areas were introduced in 2001 and the government started to refund the certification costs from the state budget

OBJECTIVES OF THE ANALYSIS
The main objective of the analysis was a presentation of the diversification of parameters characterizing the organic farming in individual voivodeships. The state of the organic farming has been described by a set of indices which constitutes a technique for assessing the development level of this method of agriculture in the voivodeships. It was assumed that the timespan of the analysis are the years 2010-2018.
The complementary objectives were: • presentation of diversification of amount of the organic farms in each voivodeship, • presentation of diversification of the voivodeships in terms of the area of organic agriculture.
Apart of the quantitative comparison, a time comparison has been worked out. The presented material allows observing the change trends occurring year by year in the individual voivodeships in relation to each parameter characterizing the organic farming.

METHODS
The following data were assumed to characterize the organic farms in Poland: • amount of the organic farms L of [ The following data were assumed with order to evaluate the diversification in the organic farming in terms of the area of farms as well as to compare the administrative units in these terms: The changes of the following data within the 9-year period 2010-2018, in the annual time modules, were used to present the development dynamics of the organic farming: The following indices, related both to the amount and the area of the organic farms, were used to evaluate a development level in the organic farming within the period 2010-2018: W recof = (L ofmax -L of2018 )/L ofmax [-]; It was caused by a fact that in each case one can determine a maximum of the amount of the organic farms and, usually, two periods -development and recession of the organic farms. In order to depict synthetically the diversification of the voivodeships in terms of the situation in the organic farming, synthetic indices were used, which constitute a difference between the periods of development and recession: The analysis and interpretation of the investigation results were followed according to the stages below: • filtration of the data gathered in the Local Data Bank (BDL) with use of the features contained in the category Agriculture, forestry and hunting, the subgroup Organic farms and Farms, in terms of areal groups of agricultural lands; • data aggregation for individual subsets; • dynamic data analysis (in one-year periods) with presentation of a trend of the changes.
Compilation of the numerical data in spatial terms has been worked out with use of the data from the BDL and the ArcGis software.

CHARACTERISTICS OF DEVELOPMENT OF ORGANIC FARMS
The data and features concerning the organic and certified farms are gathered in Table 1.  The shares of the agricultural areas cultivated with ecological methods in relation to the overall agricultural area follow a similar pattern. These shares are only slightly higher than the shares concerning the amount of the farms. Thus, it can be concluded that an average organic farm is greater than an average regular farm in the given voivodeship.
A positive aspect of the organic farming development is the share of the certified farms and their areas in the set of all ecological farms. Regardless the voivodeship, this share falls within the range of 70-90%. It proves an awareness of the organic farmers and need for the formalization of their activity and products.

RESULTS
It results clearly from the analysis that the recession in the situation in the organic farms is oncoming. In various voivodeships, this recession began in a different period, but mostly it was the year 2013. However, not only the very phenomenon of decrease in the number of the organic farms but also the intensity of this process in the years 2010-2018 must be taken into consideration (Fig. 1, Fig. 2). The indices presented in Table 2 show the dynamics of increase and decrease of the amount of the organic farms as well as the area covered by the organic farming.
The applied methodology allows showing clearly that, in most voivodeships, the recession indicators in the organic farming predominate the previous development indicators. The worst situation is observed in the Lesser Poland and Subcarpathia voivodeships where the amount of the organic farms has been increasing since 2010. Only slightly better conditions exist in the Holy Cross, Silesia and Lower Silesia voivodeships (Fig. 1). Despite the general decrease in the amount of the organic farms, in the case of the Varmia-Masuria, Podlasie and Lodz voivodeships the development indices are higher than the recession indices (Fig.1).
Two characteristic units were distinguished as well. In the Kuyavia-Pomerania and Masovia voivodeships the increase in the amount of the organic farms was higher than its decrease but, despite that, the agricultural area covered by the organic farms decreased. The reverse situation occurred in the Opole voivodeship where, despite the general decrease in the amount of the organic farms between 2010 and 2018 years, the area of the organic farms increased (Fig. 1, 2).

DISCUSSION
The abovementioned three development periods of the organic agriculture in Poland must be supplemented by a fourth period -the years 2013-2018. In these years, one can observe a recession in the popularity of this form of agriculture and decline of organic farming, both in terms of the amount and area. The obtained spatial diversification of the voivodeships with use of the arithmetic mean of synthetic indices (W synt3 ) was compared to the synthetic index of usefulness for organic production which was worked out in the Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation (IUNG-PIB) in Puławy [Biesiacki et al. 2004] (Fig. 3).
As one can note in the comparison, in extreme cases an analogy exists between the conditions for organic production and the recent development situation of this agriculture form. In the Warmia-Masuria voivodeship, having the best conditions, the amount and area of the organic farms within the investigated period is still growing. However, it must be emphasized that since 2014, a decrease trend has occurred, which is analogical to the general situation in Poland.
The greatest recession in establishing the organic farms occurred in the Lesser Poland and Silesia voivodeships. It is certainly connected to the disadvantageous conditions for the organic production in these regions. The situation in the voivodeships with medium advantage conditions for organic production can be considered as quite stable. In these regions, the development slightly predominates the recession (Mazovia, Lodz, Podlasie, Lubusz) or the recession is on a low level (West Pomerania, Greater Poland).
The most diversified group comprises the voivodeships with the advantageous conditions for organic production. There is no such relationship in this set as in the previously mentioned cases because one can find not only the voivodeships with no recession or low recession  (Fig. 3).

CONCLUSIONS
The performed analysis proved that the statement being repeated in scientific works till 2015, according to which "the interest in the organic production in Poland is still growing" [Makowska 2015], has become false for the recent years.
The recession in the organic farming on various levels can be found in 10 voivodeships. The recession on a very high level of 30-65% occurs in the Silesian, Holy Cross, Lesser Poland and Subcarpathia voivodeships. The satisfactory development level of the organic farms within the 9-year period can be confirmed only for three voivodeships: Lodz, Podlasie and Warmia-Masuria.
The decrease of the interest in the organic form of agriculture, confirmed by the decreasing number of the existing organic farms, has been observed in all voivodeships -however, great differences in the intensity of this decrease can be noted, both in relation to the individual years and the voivodeships.
On the basis of the presented data, it can be stated that in the majority of the voivodeships, the cri- In statistical and spatial terms, however, it must be stated that the percentage distribution of the existing organic farms in the voivodeships is quite stable within the years 2014-2018. In 2014, among 24829 organic farms, the most was found in the voivodeships: Warmia-Masuria, (4234), West Pomerania (3526) and Podlasie (3432). In total, the farms in these voivodeships constituted 45.1% of all organic farms in Poland. The lowest number of such farms was found in the voivodeships: Opole (75), Silesia As the final conclusion, it must be emphasized that there are fewer and fewer farmers wanting to establish or transform their farms into organic ones. It is interesting in so far as the demand for organic products and healthy food is increasingly high.