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The Environmental and Climatic CAP Measures in Poland vs. Farmers’ Expectations - Regional Analysis
The Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union remains at the top tier of the union’s legacies with the aim of bequeathing a sustainable future for all. Series of actions geared towards reforming the environmental and climate goals of the CAP are constantly being taken. The objective of this paper is to verify if the environmental and climatic CAP measures proposed in Poland’s Strategic Development Plan for Agriculture, for the years 2023–2027, reflect farmers’ preferences regarding the structure of the CAP support. To achieve this goal, we model a hypothetical strategic game involving farmers from different regions. The outcomes of the game were derived from the ex-post analysis of EU funds, in the application for environmental and climatic CAP measures, in addition to the results of simulations of the partial equilibrium model for the agricultural sector (CAPRI). It was found out that farmers from regions with disadvantaged agrarian structures would find it more difficult to cope with new eco-schemes due to the fact that good agricultural practices are rather low in such regions. For the long-term development of Polish agriculture, the agrarian structures need to be improved, as this affects the emission of greenhouse gases. The varying preferences of farmers from different Polish regions in implementing eco-schemes can be balanced by increasing redistributive payments.
Local Development and LEADER Funding in Poland: Insights from the Wielkopolska Region
LEADER is a European Union program designed to engage the energy and resources of people and local organizations in contributing to the development of their rural areas. Given the uniqueness of the program—particularly its bottom-up, incentive-based approach—it is of crucial importance to determine the local conditions affecting fund absorption. This study utilizes factor analysis and stepwise multiple regression to assess the influence of the local rural development conditions on the level of funding and rural residents’ participation in the LEADER program in Poland, using the example of the Wielkopolska region. This research spans two consecutive EU funding periods: 2007–2013 and 2014–2020. Our findings reveal that residents in areas with higher developmental needs and lower levels of socioeconomic development display a greater proclivity to access LEADER program funds. Consequently, the LEADER funds in the Wielkopolska region are directed towards areas in genuine need of reinforcement. These results contradict previous research on selected EU rural development measures under the second pillar of the CAP, as well as specific LEADER implementation areas. Furthermore, our findings indicate that entrepreneurship and cultural activities play a pivotal role in stimulating bottom-up initiatives within rural communities.