The aim of the article is to indicate how sustainable farms participating in short food supply chains are compared to farms not participating. A database of 199 farms from Poland was collected in 2023, of which 94 participated in ‘short’ selling, and the remaining 105 did not. The study was conducted in three steps. Firstly, synthetic measures of economic, social and environmental sustainability were constructed using the CRITIC-TOPSIS method. Secondly, the significance of differences between the mean values of the sustainability components for SFSC farms and non-SFSC farms was assessed. Thirdly, on the basis of logistic regression, the influence of selected variables on the probability of farms participating in short supply chains was determined. The study shows that farms participating in SFCS are clearly more sustainable in the social dimension compared to non-SFCS farms. In the case of the economic dimension, the differences were less marked but statistically significant, while no clear differences were noted for environmental sustainability.

This study explores whether participation in short food supply chains (SFSCs) reduces perception gaps and cognitive biases in farmers' evaluation of financial performance in post-pandemic conditions. Research design and methods: survey data from 76 SFSC and 95 non-SFSC-farms in Poland were compared with actual data from the FADN system to assess accuracy in estimating production, income, and cost changes. Findings:SFSC farmers demonstrated more accurate and optimistic assessments of economic indicators, particularly for production and income, compared to non-SFSC peers. Differences were statistically significant, suggesting better perception and reduced bias. Implications and recommendations: encouraging SFSC participation and offering training in accounting and financial literacy may help farmers make more informed decisions and reduce cognitive distortions. Contribution and value added: by applying behavioural economics, Sustainable Systems Theory, and Social-Ecological Systems Theory, the study highlights SFSCs as tools for increasing farmers' adaptive capacity, market awareness, and resilience in uncertain conditions.

Afghanistan is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, which poses significant challenges to food security and environmental systems. To mitigate these challenges and promote sustainable development, it is important to adopt an integrated method that promotes food production and climate resilience for environmental sustainability. This manuscript aims to estimate the decoupling impact of green energy on CO2 emissions and food crop production in Afghanistan, with a focus on promoting Sustainable food production. In this research article, the Nonlinear Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) model was used to estimate data from 1996 to 2021 in Afghanistan. The NARDL bounds test confirms a stable long-run equilibrium relationship between climatic factors and food crop production. The long-run results reveal an asymmetric decoupling impact of green energy on CO2 emission and food crop production. Specifically, a 1% positive or negative shock in the interaction between green energy and CO2 emissions produces different outcomes for food crop production. Increasing temperature tends to decrease food production, while precipitation increases food production over the long term. Furthermore, raising CO2 emissions negatively affects long-term food production, while greater use of green energy contributes to food production in the future. These findings underscore the need to adopt climate-resilient technologies, including climate-smart agriculture, to help farmers withstand the adverse effects of climate change. In addition, to ensure long-term stability in food production, Afghanistan should prioritize the development of green technologies. This approach would reduce agriculture’s dependence on fossil fuels and foster the growth of sustainable agricultural industries.

The prevailing view in the literature is that participation in short food supply chains increases farm sustainability. However, there are no clear opinions on the individual dimensions of sustainability and the relationships between them. Therefore, the aim of this article is to analyse the impact of selected variables on shaping economic, social, and environmental order and explore the synergies (trade-offs) between them. The analysis focuses on two groups of farms: those participating in short food supply chains and those not involved, treated as a control group. The study used data from 199 Polish farms and applied structural equation modelling. The results indicate that participation in short supply chains creates a more balanced and coherent sustainability profile. Short selling primarily enhances social sustainability and fosters coherence across sustainability domains, albeit at the expense of lower labour productivity. The conclusions regarding the environmental order are ambiguous, indicating the need for further research.

The aim of the study is to indicate perceived resilience of Polish farms during the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic crisis. Hence, one of our research question is: do farmers involved in short food supply chains perceive their resilience to external shocks higher than others? Our study is embedded in the resilience theory and framework with three resilience capacities: robustness, adaptability and transformability. We interviewed (using semi-structured questionnaire) a group of 199 small- and medium-scale farms in Poland. We used statistical methods to determine the differences between farms involved in SFSCs (SFSC-farms) and not involved (non-SFSC-farms). The analysis reveals a higher total perceived resilience of farms involved in short food supply chains, especially in the case of farms which sell 15–50

Recenzja książki: A. Sadłowski, Transmisja płatności bezpośrednich w procesach alokacji i podziału w rolnictwie, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego, Warszawa 2025, ss. 184.

Podjęta tematyka ukierunkowania WPR jest niezwykle istotna. W warunkach, jakie zachodzą w sektorze rolno-żywnościowym w skali globalnej i na poziomie UE, dyskusja na temat przyszłości małych gospodarstw rolnych i ich roli w pełnieniu funkcji ekonomicznych, społecznych i środowiskowych jest uzasadniona i ważna (…). Istotnym przesłaniem rozprawy jest konieczność zwrócenia uwagi na specyfikę funkcjonowania małych gospodarstw w UE oraz doboru odpowiedniej formy wsparcia tych pod-miotów (…). Autor wprowadza koncepcję luki dochodowej jako narzędzia zrównoważenia rolnictwa. Przedstawienie sytuacji gospodarstw rolnych o różnej sile ekonomicznej przez pryzmat luki dochodowej jest nowatorskie, a wyciągnięte wnioski są ciekawe i mogą być wykorzystane przy planowaniu polityki rolnej (…). Wartościowe jest także przedstawienie wyników obliczeń dla luki dochodowej ze wsparciem WPR i bez wsparcia. Takie ujęcie pozwoliło na analizę wpływu WPR na poziom zrównoważenia ekonomicznego gospodarstw rolnych. (Z recenzji wydawniczej prof. dr hab. Ewy Kirulyk-Dryjskiej).

It is commonly believed that short food supply chains contribute to the sustainable development of agriculture and rural areas. However, such a view cannot be substantiated without supporting evidence. Therefore, the main purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive review of the literature on the subject, considering both sustainable development and short food supply chains. The aim is to establish a foundation of knowledge in this field and, on this basis, to formulate an informed perspective on the issue. The study applied the PRISMA guidelines for systematic literature reviews. In the identification phase, the Scopus database was used. The results indicate that the relationships between short food supply chains and the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainability are not unequivocal, although most studies confirm the positive impact of short food supply chains on the sustainable development of farms and rural areas. Engaging in short selling generally improves the economic performance of farms and increases their social involvement, but the impact on the natural environment remains ambiguous.

Short food supply chains (SFSCs) are a model promoted among farmers in many countries. This model is popularised as an opportunity to increase the economic efficiency. However, the research results found in the literature are ambiguous. This study therefore aims to assess the impact of participation in short food supply chains on the productivity and efficiency of farms. Poland and the Czech Republic are taken as examples of countries with a contrasting agrarian structure and different size classes of farms are investigated. Primary data come from semi-structured face-to-face interviews conducted among 375 producers divided into two groups - participating and not participating in SFSCs. The indices of productivity and non-parametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) were applied to assess differences in efficiency for two groups mentioned above. It was demonstrated that in Poland small farms participating in SFSC achieve higher production efficiency than farms not participating in SFSC.

PurposeThe aim of the research is to operationalise the notion of women's empowerment in agriculture and to assess the effect of women's empowerment on the marketisation of small farms, comparing emerging markets of different development levels - less developed Serbia and Moldova with more advanced economies. The study will also conceptually bridge the framework of the self-efficacy concept with the theory of social embeddedness.Design/methodology/approachWe combine qualitative identification of different models of women's empowerment and social involvement with quasi-experimental, multi-value treatment effect analysis. Data were collected via semi-structured surveys conducted on 3,172 small farms in Lithuania, Romania, Poland, Serbia and Moldova.FindingsWe conclude that, when viewed solely in terms of decision-making power, women's empowerment may not be sufficient for building a market orientation and that a high level of women's participation in social networks is decisive.Originality/valueWe posit that there is a significant knowledge gap in how the definition of women's empowerment is operationalised within the agricultural sector. We address this issue by applying Bandura's self-efficacy framework. We then examine how self-efficacy, as reflected by various women's empowerment conditions, influences the marketisation of small farms. In this way, we make a conceptual contribution, revealing that self-efficacy can be more effective when embedded in a social network context, as referred to in the theory of embeddedness. From a practical perspective, we contribute to discussions about achieving the gender equality Sustainable Development Goal.

The economic situation of farms is determined by a number of factors, which have been widely described in the literature. One factor is market integration, which shapes the farmer’s position in the food supply chain. The involvement of farmers in the integration may be related to their social capital, although this hypothesis has not been fully verified. Thus, the aim of the article is to assess the relationship between the level of social capital and the market integration of farms in selected Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. The analysis includes Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Serbia and Moldova, and the sample consists of a total of 3160 farms. Data were collected personally by the authors through face-to-face interviews with farm managers. Based on these data, the authors’ market integration index was calculated and the level of social capital of farms was determined. A comparative analysis of average market integration indices for farms with different degrees of social capital was then carried out separately for each country. The Mann-Whitney U-test and the Kruskal-Wallis test were used to determine the significance of differences. The findings reveal that the highest value of the market integration was recorded for those farmers who were most strongly ‘socialised’, i.e. who participated in long-life education, took part in social events and were members of various organisations. A very important implication of this is that by strengthening social capital, farms aim to strengthen integration into the market, which can consequently lead to improved economic performance. Therefore, mitigating regional disparities and increasing the average level of agricultural performance in CEE countries should include measures to increase social capital on farms, i.e. providing workshops, training, and exhibitions, as well as supporting agricultural producer organizations, promoting rural housewives’ circles, and organising social events, among others. Such activities can be financed both from the second pillar of the common agricultural policy and from local government budgets. The contribution of the research focuses on the rarely undertaken subject matter of the relationship between social capital and market integration in farms. The added value consists of 1) a comparative analysis of five CEE countries and 2) an estimation of the authors’ indicators of social capital and market integration of farms, which could be used in the future for similar research.

Agriculture has a significant impact on the entire humanity and because of that we analyze the the purpose of agriculture sector, especially the challenges of sustainable agriculture and the influence of competitiveness, which stems from the fact that the participation of agriculture in the economy of Serbia and Poland is at a relatively high level. In order to see more important performance and characteristics involved in the concept of challenges of sustainable development and competitiveness of agricultural, we will presents a brief overview of some specifics in two different countries - Serbia and Poland.

The aim of this publication is to assess the relationship between the effectiveness of university management and the graduate's position on the labor market. The implementation of the goal serves to verify the following hypothesis: the higher the effectiveness of educational institutions, the better the graduate's position on the labor market. Additionally, two specific goals were adopted: 1) identification of variables important for shaping the university's potential and the direction of their influence; 2) identification of variables important for shaping the graduate's position on the labor market and the direction of their impact. The study used a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach, which perfectly relates observable variables to difficult-to-measure variables. The data concerns Poland and comes from the Scientific Achievement Assessment System and the Graduates' Economic Career Monitoring System. As a result of the analyses, it was confirmed that there is a positive relationship between the university's potential and the situation of graduates on the labor market. It was also shown that the factors influencing the improvement of the university's potential, which should be taken into account in the management process, are the following variables: expenditure on teaching activities and the share of the number of teachers with academic degrees in the total number of teachers. In turn, the improvement of the situation of graduates on the labor market is determined primarily by the extension of the average time of looking for a job.

The main aim of the research was to identify the differences in socio-demographic characteristics between managers of small farms in Poland who do and do not participate in short food supply chains (SFSCs). The analysis was based on the results of a survey conducted in 2023 among 199 respondents – farmers in Poland. Selected social and demographic variables were analysed. For the demographic ones, there were used: gender, age, education of the farm manager, and number of members on the farm. In turn, the level of social capital characterising farmers was described by participation in continuing education, participation in organizations, cooperatives, associations, clubs, etc., and participation in events, concerts, festivals, etc. A chi-square Pearson’s test of independence was used to compare two groups of farms in terms of the analysed variables. The strength of the relationships was measured using the V-Cramer convergence coefficient. Research revealed that among the social and demographic variables, gender and education were significant. Hence, among farms participating in the SFSCs, there were significantly more farms owned and managed by women and managers of those farms were better educated than managers of farms not participating in the SFSCs. Moreover higher level of social capital, particularly perceived through the involvement of farm owners or members of a household in lifelong education and membership in organisations, cooperatives, or associations was also a distinguishing feature of farms participating in the SFSCs.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the functioning of the entire economy. However, the strength of the impact was not uniform across sectors, with some affected more severely and others only slightly. Due to its importance, agribusiness is of particular interest. Therefore, the aim of the publication is to assess the economic and financial condition of farms in Poland and Czechia during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study covered the 2017-2021 period. The economic and financial condition was established on the basis of the following volumes and values of indicators: total output, prices of products and inputs, export and import volumes, productivity, profitability and debt ratios. The study includes data from national statistics and the FADN agricultural accounting system and concerns two EU countries, mentioned above. Chain indices were used to show trends, while the financial analysis includes selected productivity, profitability, and debt ratios. Calculations were carried out for average values of farms and divided into economic size classes. The results indicate that the agricultural sector was not particularly vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in terms of changes in output, which was mainly influenced by weather factors. What did change were the higher prices of agricultural raw materials and inputs (fertilizers, fuels, feed) in 2021. In Poland the growth dynamics of the prices of sold products surpassed that of inputs, in Czechia the proportions were reversed. This translated into the values of financial indicators. In general, they improved in Poland, while in Czechia 2021 turned out to be less favourable financially. Comparing different economic classes, in Poland the results for small farms were relatively good, in Czechia the larger entities fared better under the crisis conditions.

The study aims to analyse factors that influence the market value of small farms in Romania. The research methodology involved a Gibbs sampling and updates of the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm. Findings demonstrate distinction in the estimated market values of small farms and their features across households and explain the role and influence of socio-economic, institutional, and marketing factors. The impact of the independent variables shows that the level of education, support for agri-environmental activities, unfavourable areas and sales to processing plants, have positively influenced the estimated market value of small farms.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the functioning of the entire economy.However, the strength of the impact was not uniform across sectors, with some affected more severely and others only slightly.Due to its importance, agribusiness is of particular interest.Therefore, the aim of the publication is to assess the economic and financial condition of farms in Poland and Czechia during the COVID-19 pandemic.The study covered the 2017-2021 period.

The problem of farm succession is one of the most important in Poland's agriculture sector and requires further in-depth research. With the increasing pressure of agriculture on the natural environment, it is particularly important to take this factor into account in the analysis. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to discover the influence of environmental and economic performance on decisions concerning succession in Poland's farms. We used the results of surveys carried out in 78 farms from the Wielkopolska region (Poland). Structural equation modelling (SEM) was then applied for analysis. We showed that the improvement of economic results positively influences the succession processes of farms, which is understandable from the point of view of the interests of potential successors. At the same time, we discovered that the probability of finding a farm's successor is negatively linked with the ‘environmental performance’ variable, which was contrary to our original assumption. We may conclude that farms applying environmental practices should be more interesting and desirable succession object due to the growing interest in ecology among young people, potential successors. It turned out that there is no such regularity in the study group. For that reason, it can be assumed that pro-environmental activities are in a sense a barrier to increasing economic efficiency. This has a negative influence on succession processes, rather than being pro-environmental itself is the cause. Thus, improving economic efficiency should be accompanied by environmental measures, which may require institutional support at the EU and national level for the transfer of farms, consolidation programmes, or even stronger incentives for young farmers. As for the environmental issues, it would be advisable to continue or implement new environmental programmes from the agricultural policy to have a longer action horizon.