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State, agriculture and agricultural interventions - mutual relationships
This paper analyzes mutual relationships between the institution of the state, agriculture, and agricultural interventions. It primarily adopts a historical (retrospective) approach, starting by identifying the socioeconomic importance of agriculture, and then moving to the relationships between agriculture and the state. The final section focuses on the importance of state interventionism in agriculture, taking into consideration both historical events and specific (mostly environmental) challenges of the present. The authors relied on the relevant literature on agricultural interventionism and on mutual relationships between the state and agriculture. Despite a number of deficiencies, it is essential for the state to be actively involved in the agricultural sector. The regulatory activities carried out include not only the real impact on agricultural production (its volume and quality), but also affect issues of agriculture’s impact on the environment and social life. By assuring basic security, the state enables the emergence of farming innovations which are a necessary driver of agricultural development, which, moreover, must be conditioned by the unknown environmental problems present in the past. Moreover, the production and distribution of food alone represents one of the fundamental dimensions of security and is a guarantor of full economic growth.
Plant Protection and Fertilizer Use Efficiency in Farms in a Context of Overinvestment: A Case Study from Poland
The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between plant protection and fertilizer use efficiency, on one side, and overinvestment in Polish agriculture, on the other. This is an important topic because of a number of essential issues, such as the concern for the environment, the development of sustainable agriculture, or the need to ensure food security which can only be achieved by keeping production volumes at least at the same level. Reconciling these goals often requires investment which, however, involves the risk of overinvesting, i.e., a situation where the value of assets grows without a proportional increment in labor productivity. This paper uses the author’s own method of farm classification by overinvestment level. The study revealed some differences in the cost intensity of fertilizing and using plant-protection products between investment levels. The most rational results were found in farms at optimum investment levels, whereas the greatest cost intensity was recorded in farms affected by overinvestment.