THE GREEN DEAL: TOWARDS ORGANIC FARMING OR GREENING OF AGRICULTURE?
Wojciech Ziętara, Zofia Mirkowska
Abstract
The purpose of the research is to evaluate the socio-economic consequences of increasing the area of agricultural land under organic farming in Poland. Increasing the share of organic farms in agricultural land could lead to a reduced agricultural production, which would pose a threat to food security. Implementing the principles of an integrated and precise production system of a greater range comparing to organic farming could be a competitive solution that would contribute to achieving the environmental and climate protection objectives to a greater extent, while maintaining the existing production rate. The implementation of the objectives was based on a comparative method: the authors compareorganic farms in Poland and Germany with farms applying conventional agricultural production systems. The research results demonstrate that implementing the Green Deal assumptions related to reaching 25% of agricultural land under organic farming in Poland, while maintaining the existing trends, will lead to a drop in agricultural production by approximately 11%. A competitive solution is to allocate the CAP funds to support pro-environmental measures and programs in the case of all farms. Participation in such programs should be voluntary.